Abstract

The present study was conducted to determine the effects of L-arginine supplementation of drinking water on the kidney and liver of Sasso chickens. The study comprised 297 mixed sex Sasso chickens of twelve-weeks old raised in floor pens, the birds were randomly distributed into three treatments and three replicates with thirty-three birds per replicate. The design of the experiment is the completely randomized design (CRD). The birds were fed with grower’s mash and given different treatment of 0 mg/L (Treatment A at 0% supplementation), 167 mg/L (Treatment B at 50% supplementation), and 334 mg/L (Treatment C at 100% supplementation) of L-arginine supplement in drinking water of 9 L per replicate daily for a period of five consecutive weeks, after which the birds were decapitated. The kidney and liver were removed and taken to histopathology laboratory for histological analysis. The chickens administered 0 mg/L L-arginine (0%) supplementation was without lesions. However, kidney and liver of chickens that received 167 mg/L (50%) and 334 mg/L (100%) supplementation showed explicit damage. There was congestion of the vascular channels in the kidneys and liver of birds that received 167 mg/L of L-arginine and destruction of the glomeruli and tubules in the kidney and peri portal mononuclear inflammatory infiltration in the liver of those given 334 mg/L of L-arginine. This could possibly be a result of the over-expression of nitric oxide which is a vasodilator. These present findings showed that supplementing the diets of Sasso chickens with L-arginine of 50 and 100% have detrimental effect on the structure and functions of the kidney and liver.

Key words: L-Arginine, Sasso chickens, kidney, liver, dosage.