Papo pendular em frangos de corte: avaliação física, hematológica, bioquímica, biométrica e morfométrica.

Abstract

The current study aimed to evaluate the physical, hematological, biochemical, biometric and morphometric aspects of broiler chickens affected by pendular crop in the microregion of Feira de Santana, Bahia. Fifty-six male and female broilers of the Cobb 500 lineage were used, of which 28 animals were affected by pendular crop, identified through observation of the volume and palpation of the organ, and 28 healthy animals from the same batches, which were separated and removed. from conventional sheds at 42 days of age at the time of slaughter. The birds were weighed, evaluated and subjected to collection of 4mL of blood for blood count and serum biochemistry. They were then euthanized by cervical dislocation, for subsequent necropsy and anatomopathological analysis. The crop, proventriculus, gizzard, liver and small intestine were collected, food residues were removed and weighed, which also had its length measured. For morphometric evaluation, segments of the duodenum, jejunum and ileum were collected and processed. The data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA), followed by the Tukey test to compare means considering the effect of the disease on physical, hematological, biochemical and anatomopathological parameters. The result of the physical evaluation demonstrated that birds with a pendulum crop presented changes such as incoordination, difficulty in locomotion and regurgitation of the contents of the crop. The body weight of birds with the disease was similar to that of healthy birds (p>0.05), however, the absolute and relative weight of the full crop of affected birds was higher than that of birds without the disease (p<0.05 ). When analyzing the blood count, the mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) result of affected birds was lower than that of healthy birds (p<0.05). In the analysis of serum biochemistry, the result of creatine kinase (CK) was higher in birds with the disease and the results of uric acid and triglycerides were lower in birds with pendular crop (p<0.05). During the necropsy, it was possible to observe the presence of hyperemia, crusts, laceration and necrosis in the crop of birds with the disease, in addition, points of erosion were observed in the coilin membrane of the gizzard of most of the affected animals. The biometric results demonstrated there was no difference in the weight of the proventriculus, gizzard and liver between affected and healthy birds (p>0.05), nevertheless, birds with pendulous crop showed greater weight of the empty crop, reduction in weight and length of segments of the small intestine compared to birds without the disease (p<0.05). In the results of intestinal morphometry, it was possible to perceive there was a reduction in the height, width of the intestinal villi and absorption surface of the ileum in birds with the disease, when compared to the healthy group (p<0.05). Consequently, it is possible to conclude that the disease compromises the physical state, behavior and crop weight of the animals. The condition does not cause significant hematological changes; yet it alters the enzymatic profile of serum components. The presence of food in the crop for a prolonged period causes stress and damages intestinal health, which negatively xii impacts the process of digestion and absorption of nutrients from the diet, which results in less use of the feed.