Therapeutic Efficacy of Nefrotec Liquid Against Renal or Visceral Gout in Broiler Chickens - A Field Report

INTRODUCTION The incidence of gout in broiler birds has been speculatively blamed on the high protein levels in diets. Gout in birds can be in two forms, visceral gout and articular gout. Visceral gout is the most common form in poultry, wherein the plasma uric acid levels are high and urates are deposited in the visceral organs. Sillers (1959) suggested that this form of gout is the result of physiological changes in the kidneys, which affect the kidney functions in general. Visceral gout was experimentally induced in chickens by feeding diets deficient in vitamin A (Elvehjem and Neu, 1932), and with diets containing excess calcium (Shane, 1969). Articular gout is characterized by the accumulation of urates in the synovial capsule and tendon sheath of a joint. It has been experimentally produced in chicks genetically prone to this disease, fed with high protein (80%) diets (Peterson et al., 1971). Researchers have demonstrated that the incidence of articular gout is highly influenced by heredity. Both visceral and articular gout in birds are associated with elevated plasma uric acid. However, according to Schlumberger (1969), these two conditions are separate entities and do not occur together. Uric acid is the main end product of nitrogen metabolism in birds, accounting for approximately 80% of the nitrogen excreted (O'Dell et al., 1960). Thus, uric acid content in blood should be influenced by dietary protein, protein quality, protein metabolism and nutritional state.