Effect of drinking magnetized water on immunity and carcass quality of broiler chicken

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the effect of drinking Magnetized Water (MW) on the immunity of broiler chicken. The problem which this study focused on was the mortality rate of broiler chicken which is common in some poultry farms in Nigeria due to some factors that could lead to loss of income. There is a need for economical methods for boosting the immunity of Broiler Chicken (BC) in order to reduce the mortality rate. BC (Arbor Acres breed) was given MW. The magnetized water was produced by passing water through the magnetic field in a pipe. The treatments were MW treated for 33s by passing the water through pipe surrounded with magnets one time(T1), MW treated for 66 s by flowing twice through the magnetic unit (T2), T3 was MW treated for 99 s and control (Non-Magnetized Water, NMW, T0). A total of 80 BCs (day old) with 20 BC for each treatment were given MW (T1, T2 and T3), NMW and monitored for 7 weeks. Blood samples were collected for hematology and analyzed using standard methods. The values of white blood cell for T0, T1, T2 and T3 were 153.61×10-9/L, 133.20×10-9/L, 134.78×10-9/L and 101.12×10-9/L and for lymphocytes, were 137.08×10-9/L, 120.79×10-9/L, 125.49×10-9/L and 96.12×10-9/L, respectively. MW T1, T2 and T3 increased body weight gain of the BC by 410, 320 and 210g/broiler. Protein contents of the carcass for T1, T2, T3 and T0 were 13.13%, 13.23%, 13.18% and 12.80%, respectively. MW can therefore enhance production of healthy broiler chickens.