Use of some nutritional supplements in drinking water of growing turkeys during 1st month of age and their effect on performance, meat quality, blood profile and antioxidant status.

The management practices implemented by the poultry sector as using some nutritional additives in the early stage of a bird's life can potentially detect other challenges to production development in the poultry farms. Many potential supplements can be included in the early feeding as which are added to drinking water. In this study, 180 1-day-old chicks were randomly distributed into six groups to investigate the use of some nutritional supplements in drinking water of growing turkeys during 1st month of age and their effect on growth performance, carcass traits, meat quality, leg problems, blood profile and oxidative status. Birds that were supplied with tap water were considered the control group (C), whereas the birds that received the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th treatments (T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5, respectively) were supplied with drinking water containing 10% sugar syrup, molasses, lemon juice, skim milk and fresh egg albumin respectively. The different water additives significantly (p < 0.05) affected the body weight (BW) and body weight gain (BWG) at all studied ages except for the BW at 4 weeks old and BWG at 0-4 weeks old and 8-12 weeks old. Significant effects of the treatments on the feed consumption (FC) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were not observed during the experiment, and the treatments did not cause significant differences (p < 0.05) in the carcass cut-up traits, bone measurements, body temperature, plumage conditions, mortality rates and blood parameters except for IgA (p = 0.043). The activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) was improved in the treatment groups with 10% molasses and lemon juice respectively. The total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) and catalase (CAT) activities were enhanced in the treatments compared with the control group. The plasma malondialdehyde (MDA) levels were decreased with the sugar syrup, molasses and lemon juice treatments compared with those in the control and other groups. Supplementation of molasses or lemon juice to drinking water of turkeys during the 1st month of age resulted in a higher profit margin in comparison with the control group. The results showed that birds supplied with water containing 10% molasses or lemon juice during the growing period presented an improved growth performance, immune response, antioxidant status and economic efficiency.