Effect of inositol and phytases on hematological indices and α-1 acid glycoprotein levels in laying hens fed phosphorus-deficient corn-soybean meal-based diets.

The effects of feeding low nonphytate phosphorus (NPP) corn-soybean meal-based diets supplemented with myo-inositol at 0.1%, or with phytase B at 1,300 acid phosphatase units/kg, or with phytase B enriched in 6-phytase A at 300 phytase units/kg on the hematological indices and the α-1 acid glycoprotein (AGP) concentrations in the blood of Bovans Brown laying hens were investigated. The experimental design comprised also a negative control diet and an internal control diet that had the NPP content adjusted by the addition of 0.304 g of monocalcium phosphate per kg to reach the NPP level similar to that resulting from the combined action of both phytases. A total of sixty 50-wk-old hens were randomly assigned to the dietary treatments with 12 cage replicates of 1 hen, and fed the experimental diets until wk 62, when the blood samples were taken and analyzed for basic hematological indices and for AGP concentrations in sera. The hematological indices from all the experimental groups remained in a normal range; nevertheless, the statistically significant effects of diet on hemoglobin concentration (P = 0.003), erythrocyte counts (P = 0.035), the percentage of lymphocytes (P = 0.020), heterophils (P = 0.002), eosinophils (P = 0.023), and basophils (P = 0.001) in the leucocyte population, as well as on the heterophil to lymphocyte ratio (P = 0.003), were observed. The highest erythrocyte counts were characteristic for hens fed the diet supplemented with both phytase A and phytase B. The highest heterophil to lymphocyte ratios were found in blood of hens fed the diet supplemented with phytase B, whereas the highest basophil percentages and the highest AGP concentrations occurred in birds fed the negative control diet. A highly significant correlation was observed between AGP concentrations in sera and BW losses determined previously. The results indicate that the low-NPP corn soybean meal-based diets increased acute phase protein level in laying hens. Phytase B alone, and particularly in combination with phytase A, acted as a potent mediator of the response, whereas supplementary myo-inositol did not.