author(s)
MT Akter, KA Ferdous, T Rahaman, MA Hassan and T Monjur

abstract
The present study was aimed to investigate the toxic effects of Cd exposure in commercial quail. A total number of 72 quail chicks (12 days of old) were assigned in four dietary treatments with three replicates. Control group T0 received only basal diet and the other groups T1, T2 and T3 received supplemented Cd with feed at a dose level of 0.2, 1 and 5mg/kg feed respectively. The body weight of each bird was weighed at 7 days interval and found decreases in weight gain significantly (P<0.01) among the Cd treated groups. Cd caused elevation of ALT (P<0.01) and decreased serum creatinine attributed to gross and histo-pathological changes in liver and kidney respectively. Gross pathological changes showed diffuse congestion, haemorrhage, presence of necrotic foci on liver and congestion in kidney and haemorrhage in muscle and lung. Accumulation of gas on intestine, mucosal erosion and discoloration of gizzard were also found in Cd treated birds. Histopathological lesions in liver included infiltration of reactive cells in central vein, hepatic vein and sinusoidal space in group T1 and T2 whereas group T3 showed highly necrosis of hepatocyte, picnotic nucleus and disarrangement of hepatic cord. In kidney, tubules were filled with reactive cells in all Cd treated groups while necrosis and disarrangement of tubules were found in groups fed Cd at higher doses (T3).