This study was designed to investigate the effect of sodium bicarbonate in broiler diets containing different levels of fish meal on broiler performance and macroscopic or microscopic changes in gizzard. A total of 164 broiler chicks were in a 3x2 factorial design. Day old chicks were firstly separated into 3 treatment groups fed 3, 6 or 9% fish meal supplemented diets and secondly each group were separated two subgroups taking diets added 0.2% salt or sodium bicarbonate.
At the end of the experiment, the live weights of broilers in fifth (2646.94 g) and sixth (2717.22 g> groups were higher than in the other groups (p<0.05). We did not observed any erosion in gizzard after macroscopic examination. In microscopic examinations of all samples coilin, tunica mucosa and tunica muscularis layers indicated normal tissue features.
In a result of this study, it was concluded that 3, 6 or 9% fish meal and 0.2% salt or 0.2% sodium bicarbonate in broiler diets did not lead to any decrease in broiler performance and a macroscopic or microscopic deformation in gizzard of 7, 15 and 49 day old chicks.