Morphology of the articular cartilage of the femoral head broiler chickens cross Ross-308 in the age aspect and against the background of the use of dietary supplements

Abstract

In modern broiler poultry farming, the problem of different rates of formation of muscle and connective tissue has become increasingly common. To a greater extent, this problem is affected by highly productive crosses of broiler chickens (Ross-308, Cobb500), whose selection is aimed at accelerated recruitment of live weight, without taking into account the development of the backbone and joints. According to Russian and foreign authors, during the period of broiler cultivation, the rate of poultry culling is on average 10%. Of these, more than half are pathologies of the musculoskeletal system, both non-infectious (injuries, unbalanced diet in terms of macro-and microelement composition) and infectious (reovirus tenosynovitis) etiology.

Our study presents the results of an experiment to study the effect of silicon dioxide and dihydroquercetin on the zonal structure of the articular cartilage of the femoral head of broiler chickens in the age aspect. The object of the study was broiler chickens of the Ross-308 cross. 160 head of chickens on the whole were examined. During the experiment, four groups of chickens with 40 chicks each were formed according to the principle of analogues. The first group was a control one and received the main diet until the age of 38 days, the chickens of the second, third and fourth groups were fed with feed additives "Covelos-Sorb" in the amount of 0.1 g, 0.14 g and 0.18 g/ 1 kg of live weight per day respectively and "Ecostimul2" in the amount of 1 mg/1 kg of live weight per day. As a result of the study, it was found that the change in the thickness of the structural zones of the articular cartilage of the broiler chicken femoral head is periodic and asynchronous, depending on the age, individual characteristics and dosage of biologically active supplements. There was also an increase in the proportion of isogenic groups in the intermediate zone of the articular cartilage of the femoral head in experimental chickens, which may indicate an increase in the activity of chondrogenesis.