Vitamin C amelioration of the adrenal stress response in broiler chickens being prepared for slaughter.

1. At 32 hr prior to slaughter, broiler chickens were treated for 24 hr with either: 1200 ppm of L-ascorbic acid (AA; Vitamin C) in their drinking water or with no-AA supplementation (controls; simultaneously maintained on tap water). 2. Following the dietary treatments, birds were stressed by cooping/starvation for 8 hr before being hauled to an abattoir for processing. As indices of stress status, blood corticosterone (B) levels and heterophil/lymphocyte (H/L) ratios were determined at 32 and 8 hr prior to slaughter, and immediately before slaughter (0 hr). 3. The results indicated that AA supplementation reduces the stress response (i.e. elevated plasma B levels and H/L ratios) evident in broiler chickens being prepared for processing.