Clinico-pathological studies of imidacloprid toxicity and its amelioration with vitamin C in broiler chickens Komal1, Gupta R.P.1, Lather Deepika1,* 1Department of Veterinary Pathology, College of Veterinary SciencesLala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary & Animal Sciences, Hisar, Haryana, India *Corresponding author: e-mail: deepikalather@yahoo.co.in
Abstract An experimental study was conducted on 120 broiler chicks to investigate the clinic-pathological changes of imidacloprid (IMC) toxicity and to assess the effect of vitamin C supplementation on the toxicity. Chicks at the age of 7 days were divided into two groups (A and B). The birds of group A were given vitamin C @100 mg/kg body weight orally daily, throughout the experiment. At the age of 14 days, the birds of groups A and B were further divided into two subgroups (A1, A2 and B1, B2). Birds of group Aland Blwere given IMC @ 5.206 mg/kg body weight (1/5th of maximum tolerated dose) orally till the end of experiment. The chicks of group B1 exhibited clinical signs such as depression, decreased appetite, excessive salivation, watery diarrhea, closing of eye and respiratory distress. Group B1 showed significantly lower mean body weight. Histopathological lesions in IMC treated groups were hepatitis accompanied with fatty change and necrosis of hepatocytes, bronchiolitis, myocarditis, enteritis, proventriculitis, depletion of lymphocytes in lymphoid organs, interstitial nephritis and degeneration of Purkinje cells in cerebellum. It is concluded that IMC administration caused immunosuppressive, circulatory and inflammatory lesions which were ameliorated significantly with vitamin C supplementation. Top Keywords Chicken, Imidacloprid toxicity, Vitamin C. Top |