Effect of hypoxia and diet on spontaneous turkey cardiomyopathy (round-heart disease).

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of hypoxia-induced hypoxemia and rate of growth on spontaneous dilatory cardiomyopathy in turkey poults. Turkey poults grown in a hypobaric chamber at an atmospheric pressure of 592 mmHg (calculated partial pressure of oxygen: 124 mmHg; calculated altitude and O2 equivalents: 2054 m and 16.3%) on a rapid-growth diet developed a mainly right ventricular dilatory cardiomyopathy typical of the acute form of spontaneous turkey cardiomyopathy (STC). Poults grown in a hypobaric chamber on a slow-growth diet had a much lower incidence of STC. Control poults at atmospheric pressure, altitude 295 m (calculated atmospheric pressure: 735 mmHg; partial pressure of oxygen: 154 mmHg, 20.26% O2), on a rapid-growth diet had an incidence of STC similar to that of the slow-growth hypobaric group, while those on a slow-growth diet had a lower incidence.