Vitamin A Deficiency in Poultry

SUBMITTED BY: JHARNA KOUL

 INTRODUCTION

 Unsaturated nutritional organic compound

 Fat soluble Vitamin

 Occurs in three form:

1. Alcoholic form – Retinol
2. Acidic form – Retinoic acid
3. Aldehyde form - Retinal
 FUNCTIONS

 Growth and specialization of virtually all cells

 Role in normal immune functions, eye

development and vision

 Cartilage and bone growth

 Maintain normal pressure of cerebrospinal fluid in

the brain
 SOURCES

 Preformed Vitamin A from animal source (fish oil, egg

yolk, liver)

 Pro-vitamincarotenoids from plants (alpha, beta,

gamma carotenes)

 Beta carotene has the highest vitamin A activity

 Dark green leafy vegetables are good sources of alpha

and beta carotenes
 SYMPTOMS

 Weakness
 Imbalance
 Retardation in body growth
 Ruffled feathers
 Loss of yellow colour of shank
 Conjunctivitis
 Embryonic death and table eggs may show blood
spots
 Ataxia or incoordinated movements
Ruffled feathers

Ataxia
 Time interval between clutches is increased
 Corneal opacity
 Xerophthalmia
 Penguin like squat
Penguin like squat
 LESIONS

 Hyperkeratosis

 Swollen glands may take the form of vesicles or

pustules

 Mouth ulcers may get covered with cheesy exudate

 Deposition of urates in kidneys and other organs

hyperkeratosis

Excessive urates in the kidney and ureter

 Small white nodules with central depression in nasal
passages, mouth, oesophagus, pharynx and into the
crop
 Seromucoid watery mucous fill turbinates and may
cause facial swelling
 Paranasal sinuses, trachea, and bronchi lined by
delicate pseudomembrane
 Replacemement of glandular epithelium with
squamous metaplasia
 DIAGNOSIS

 Signs, lesions, feed formulation

Differential diagnosis:
 Fowl pox
 Trichomoniasis
 Thrush
 Vitamin E deficiency
 Infectious coryza
 TREATMENT

 12,500 I.U. of vitamin A and 1/5th of this quantity of

Vitamin D mixed in every Kg of feed

 Avoidhigh temperature, dampness, excess of

Manganese and Calcium in the feed

 8000 I.U./Kg of all transretinol in basal feed

improves the immunity (Dalloul, R.A. 2002, loc-cit)