K. Stoyanchev

Department of Internal Diseases and Clinical Toxicology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Trakia University, 6000 Stara Zagora, Bulgaria

(Manuscript received 5 April 2016; accepted for publication 7 June 2017)

Abstract. The aim of the present study was to reproduce experimentally muscular dystrophy in 50 broiler turkeys, through early nutrition with a diet deficient in vitamin E, selenium and sulfur-containing amino acids, supplemented with oxidised fat and to study blood plasma sulfur containing amino acids (methionine and cysteine). The experiments were conducted with 1 day-old broiler turkeys. By the 3rd day of life, they were divided into 40 experimental (II group) and 10 control birds (I group); the latter were fed a standard compound feed, whereas the former group received a diet deficient in sulfur-containing amino acids methionine and cysteine (reduced up to 50%), vitamin E, and Se (from 0.2 mg/kg in standard feed to 0.01 mg/kg), further supplemented with oxidized fat containing peroxides and aldehydes with peroxide number of the food 8.0 meq O2/kg. The clinical signs of experimental muscle dystrophy in broiler turkeys 2
appeared first by the 25th day of feeding, when the mild clinical form (II A group) and the severe clinical form (II B group) werewas established. The results indicated clearly that in turkey broilers suffering from muscle dystrophy, the concentrations of sulfur-containing amino acids cysteine and methionine decreased. After the treatment of turkey broilers with muscle dystrophy, and supplementation with non-deficient forage with Se, vitamin E, but also with sulfurcontaining amino acids cysteine or methionine with Seled at a dosage 0.06 mg/kg, the plasma levels of sulfur-containing amino acids cysteine and methionine was normalized in the mild clinical form (II A group). The birds affected by the severe clinical form of disease (II B group), which were not treated with Seled® and whose deficient feed was not corrected, could not recover and levels of sulfur-containing amino acids cysteine and methionine did not normalize.