Vol. 45, No. 3, 2001 content next

THE INFLUENCE OF VITAMIN E ON THE NITRATE LOAD ON POULTRY

Ďurečko, R., Cabadaj, R.*, Saladiová, D., Máté, D.*

State Veterinary Institute
Hlinkova 1
043 53 Košice
The Slovak Republic		 *University of Veterinary Medicine
Komenského 73
041 81 Košice
The Slovak Republic

Summary

The experiment was carried out on 18 layers (hybrid Tetra) assigned to three groups. The layers of the first two groups were exposed to a nitrate load resulting from the oral administration of 400 mg NaNO3 per head and day. The birds assigned to the second group were also supplied vitamin E at a dose of 100 mg.head.day-1. The third group served as a control.
Vitamin E, administered per os to the hens, markedly inhibited the effect of nitrates and, together with vitamin E in the commercial feed mixture (6 mg.kg-1), prevented the reduction of nitrates to nitrites to such an extent that residua of the latter, found in products, did not exceed 0.30 mg.kg-1.
The level of vitamin E in eggs reached a mean value of almost 37.8 mg.kg-1 and, at the same time, brought the basic parameters of the quality of the poultry meat (pH, water-binding capacity) to the optimum.
The above mentioned allows us to conclude that the nitrate load on poultry may be successfully alleviated by the administration of vitamin E.

Key words: layers; nitrates; vitamin E; pH; water-binding capacity

References

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Folia Veterinaria / 2001