STM Article Repository

Even though commercial poultry farming is a very profitable business, heat stress during the summer
season drastically reduces the profitability of poultry farming (Ranjan et al., 2019). Poultry birds are
endothermic in nature and can regulate body temperature using heat generated in their bodies which
are products of metabolic reactions and muscular activity. Such reactions includes the interaction of
enzymes, vitamins, electrolytes, hormones, circadian rhythms, and ambient temperatures (Scanes,
2015). Lin et al. in 2006, reviewed approaches including thermal conditioning and the provision of
micronutrients, such as minerals and vitamins, to combat high ambient temperatures; and concluded
that nutritional manipulation would help alleviate heat stress effects if properly adjusted. Heat
production in the body normally increases with an increase in the level of proteins as a result of
metabolic acid production. Excess protein metabolism increases the heat load in poultry and favors
ionic imbalance. Under heat stress conditions, lower protein rations supplemented with some
essential amino acids, such as methionine, lysine, threonine and tryptophan have resulted in heat
stress amelioration compared to higher protein rations (Donald and William, 2002).