Comparative effects of dietary functional nutrients on growth performance, meat quality, immune responses, and stress biomarkers in broiler chickens raised under heat stress conditions

The present experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of heat stress (HS) andstocking density (SD) on growth performance, breast meat quality, and intestinal barrier functionin broiler chickens. Experimental treatments included two different ambient temperatures (20 °C:thermoneutral conditions, or 27.8 °C: HS conditions) and two different SD (low: 9 birds/m2 andhigh: 18 birds/m2) in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement. A total of 1140 21-day-old broiler chickens wereallotted 1 of 4 treatments with five replicates. At the end of the experiment (35 days of age), twobirds per replicate were euthanized for sample collections. The results indicated no interactionsbetween HS and SD for all measurements. For main effects, HS decreased (p < 0.05) the growthperformance of broiler chickens. Similarly, high SD also decreased (p < 0.05) body weight gain andfeed intake. HS decreased (p < 0.01) jejunal trans-epithelial electric resistance (TER), whereas highSD did not affect TER. Neither HS nor high SD affected jejunal tight junction-related geneexpressions; however, high SD reduced (p < 0.05) occludin expression. In conclusion, HS and highSD are key environmental factors decreasing broiler performance; however, the interactive effectsof HS and high SD are not significant under the current conditions.

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Effects of Fennel Seed Powder Supplementation on Growth Performance, Carcass Characteristics, Meat Quality, and Economic Efficiency of Broilers under Thermoneutral and Chronic Heat Stress Conditions

Animals ◽

10.3390/ani10020206 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 206 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Ahmed A. AL-Sagan ◽

Shady Khalil ◽

Elsayed O. S. Hussein ◽

Youssef A. Attia

Keyword(s):

Heat Stress ◽

Meat Quality ◽

Broiler Chickens ◽

Production Efficiency ◽

Stress Conditions ◽

Broiler Chicks ◽

Growth Promoter ◽

Growth Promoters ◽

Breast Meat ◽

Heat Stress Condition

Nowadays, phytogenic products have received great attention as a growth promoter due to their safety and environmentally friendly effect as a replacement for classical growth promoters such as antibiotics in animal nutrition. Thus, this research seeks the possibility of using fennel seed powder (FSP) as a dietary additive from 19 to 41 days of age on productive performance, carcass traits, meat quality, and production efficiency of broiler chickens raised under thermoneutral and chronic heat stress conditions. Thus, 216 one-day-old Ross-308 broiler chicks were divided into two equal groups. The first group was placed in an independent temperature-controlled room at 23 ± 2 °C. The broiler chicks from the second group were placed in a heat-stressed room and exposed to chronic heat stress conditions (32 ± 2 °C) for seven hours per day from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The experimental design was 2 × 3 factorial including two environmental temperatures (thermoneutral vs chronic heat stress) and three experimental diets that contained 0, 1.6, and 3.2% FSP. The chickens were randomly assigned to 18-floor pens per room temperature, representing six replicates per treatment and six birds per replicate. The results showed that dietary fennel seed powder during days 19–41 of age enhanced the growth rate of broiler chickens and improved breast meat redness and reduced temperature under chronic heat stress. In conclusion, 3.2% of fennel seed powder could be used as an agent for enhancing the broiler’s tolerance during chronic heat stress condition from 19 to 41 days of age. Moreover, it is necessary to study in further detail the nitrite and nitrate contents in FSP and their impacts on muscle redness (a*) as well as muscle temperature.

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Dietary Betaine Reduces the Negative Effects of Cyclic Heat Exposure on Growth Performance, Blood Gas Status and Meat Quality in Broiler Chickens

Agriculture ◽

10.3390/agriculture10050176 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (5) ◽

pp. 176

Author(s):

Majid Shakeri ◽

Jeremy J. Cottrell ◽

Stuart Wilkinson ◽

Hieu H. Le ◽

Hafiz A. R. Suleria ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Heat Stress ◽

Growth Performance ◽

Meat Quality ◽

Broiler Chickens ◽

Control Diet ◽

Heat Exposure ◽

Thiobarbituric Acid ◽

Respiratory Alkalosis ◽

Meat Tenderness ◽

Growing Period

Heat stress (HS) impairs growth performance and has a severe impact on lipid and protein metabolism, leading to serious adverse effects on meat quality. Forty-eight day-old-male Ross-308 chicks were assigned to two temperature conditions, thermoneutral or cyclical HS, and fed with either a control diet (CON) or the CON plus betaine (BET). Heat stress increased rectal temperature (p < 0.001), respiration rate (p < 0.001) and increased blood pH (p = 0.017), indicating that HS caused respiratory alkalosis. Heat stress reduced body weight during the final stage of growing period (p = 0.005), while BET improved it (p = 0.023). Heat stress tended to reduce breast muscle water content and drip loss (p = 0.089 and p = 0.082), while both were improved with BET (p = 0.008 and p = 0.001). Heat stress tended to reduce the myofibril fragmentation index (p = 0.081) whereas it increased with BET (p = 0.017). Heat stress increased thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (p = 0.017), while BET improved it (p = 0.008). Meat tenderness was not affected by HS, but was improved with BET (p < 0.001). In conclusion, BET improved growth performance over the latter stages of the growing period, and improved product quality of broiler chickens when chickens exposed to HS.

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Effects of Supplemental Chromium Source and Concentration on Growth Performance, Carcass Traits, and Meat Quality of Broilers Under Heat Stress Conditions

Biological Trace Element Research ◽

10.1007/s12011-015-0443-z ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 170 (1) ◽

pp. 216-223 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

Yanling Huang ◽

Jian Yang ◽

Fang Xiao ◽

Karen Lloyd ◽

Xi Lin

Keyword(s):

Heat Stress ◽

Growth Performance ◽

Meat Quality ◽

Carcass Traits ◽

Stress Conditions

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Comparison of growth performance and immune responses of broiler chicks reared under heat stress, cold stress and thermoneutral conditions

Spanish Journal of Agricultural Research ◽

10.5424/sjar/2018162-12753 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 16 (2) ◽

pp. e0505 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Ali Olfati ◽

Ali Mojtahedin ◽

Tayebeh Sadeghi ◽

Mohsen Akbari ◽

Felipe Martínez-Pastor

Keyword(s):

Heat Stress ◽

Immune Responses ◽

Cold Stress ◽

Growth Performance ◽

Broiler Chickens ◽

Body Weight Gain ◽

Broiler Chicks ◽

Feed Conversion ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Humoral Immune

This study was conducted to compare the effects of thermal stress on growth performance and some immunity variables of broiler chickens. Birds were randomly assigned to one of three thermal treatments as follows: cold stress (CS, 12±1°C), (b) heat stress (HS, 33±3 °C) and (c) thermoneutral (TN, 24±2 °C). Body weight gain (BWG), feed intake (FI), water intake (WI) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were recorded. In order to evaluate the primary and secondary humoral immune responses, two birds per replicate were intravenously administrated with a suspension of 7% sheep red blood cell (SRBC) at 28 and 35 days. The heat-stressed broiler chickens had lower FI (-14.90%), BWG (-25.71%) and higher FCR (+13.06%) in comparison to broiler chickens reared under TN condition (p<0.001) from 1 to 42 days of age. The cold-stressed broiler chickens showed lower FI (-22.05%), BWG (-38.32%) and higher FCR (+22.47%) in comparison to birds reared under TN conditions (p<0.001). Stressed birds (CS and HS) showed decreased antibody titer against SRBC, lymphocyte count and the relative weights of lymphoid organs and increased heterophil count, heterophil to lymphocyte ratio and the serum concentration of corticosterone, in comparison to birds in TN group (p<0.001). In conclusion, HS and CS conditions have similar negative effects on performance and immunity of broiler chickens.

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A Dietary Sugarcane-Derived Polyphenol Mix Reduces the Negative Effects of Cyclic Heat Exposure on Growth Performance, Blood Gas Status, and Meat Quality in Broiler Chickens

Animals ◽

10.3390/ani10071158 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (7) ◽

pp. 1158

Author(s):

Majid Shakeri ◽

Jeremy J. Cottrell ◽

Stuart Wilkinson ◽

Hieu H. Le ◽

Hafiz A. R. Suleria ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Heat Stress ◽

Growth Performance ◽

Meat Quality ◽

Broiler Chickens ◽

Control Diet ◽

Heat Exposure ◽

Dependent Manner ◽

Final Body Weight ◽

Dietary Polyphenols ◽

Temperature Conditions

Heat stress (HS) compromises growth performance and meat quality of broiler chickens by interrupting lipid and protein metabolism, resulting in increased oxidative damages. The experiment attempted to investigate whether dietary polyphenols (Polygain (POL)) could ameliorate the aforementioned adverse effects of HS on performance and meat quality. One hundred and twenty one day-old-male chicks were allocated to two temperature conditions, thermoneutral (TN) or HS, and fed with either a control diet (CON) or the CON plus four different doses of POL (2, 4, 6 and 10 g/kg). Heat stress caused respiratory alkalosis as evidenced by increased rectal temperature (p < 0.001) and respiration rate (p < 0.001) due to increased blood pH (p < 0.001). Heat stress decreased final body weight (p = 0.061) and breast muscle water content (p = 0.013) while POL improved both (p = 0.002 and p = 0.003, respectively). Heat stress amplified muscle damages, indicated by increased thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (p < 0.001) and reduced myofibril fragmentation index (p = 0.006) whereas POL improved both (p = 0.037 and p = 0.092, respectively). Heat stress impaired meat tenderness (p < 0.001) while POL improved it (p = 0.003). In conclusion, HS impaired growth performance and meat quality whereas POL ameliorated these responses in a dose-dependent manner, and effects of POL were evident under both temperature conditions.

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