Experimental Cyclic Heat Stress on Intestinal Permeability, Bone Mineralization, Leukocyte Proportions and Meat Quality in Broiler Chickens

Authors

Alessandro Rocchi, University of Arkansas - FayettevilleFollow
Jared Ruff, University of Arkansas, FayettevilleFollow
Clay J. Maynard, University of Arkansas, FayettevilleFollow
Aaron J. Forga, University of Arkansas, FayettevilleFollow
Roberto Señas-Cuesta, University of Arkansas, FayettevilleFollow
Elizabeth S. Greene, University of Arkansas, FayettevilleFollow
Juan D. Latorre, University of Arkansas, FayettevilleFollow
Christine N. Vuong, University of Arkansas, FayettevilleFollow
Brittany D. Graham, University of Arkansas, FayettevilleFollow
Xochitl Hernandez-Velasco, National Autonomous University of MexicoFollow
Guillermo Tellez Jr., University of Arkansas, FayettevilleFollow
Victor Petrone-Garcia, National Autonomous University of MexicoFollow
Lauren Laverty, University of Arkansas, FayettevilleFollow
Billy Hargis, University of Arkansas, FayettevilleFollow
Gisela Erf, University of Arkansas, FayettevilleFollow
Casey M. Owens, University of Arkansas, FayettevilleFollow
Guillermo Tellez-Isaias, University of Arkansas, FayettevilleFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-2022

Keywords

bone mineralization; chickens; enteric inflammation; heat stress; parts weight

Abstract

The goal of this research was to assess cyclic heat stress on gut permeability, bone mineralization, and meat quality in chickens. Two separate trials were directed. 320 day-of-hatch Cobb 500 male chicks were randomly assigned to four thermoneutral (TN) and four cyclic heat stress (HS) chambers with two pens each, providing eight replicates per treatment in each trial (n = 20 chicks/replicate). Environmental conditions in the TN group were established to simulate commercial production settings. Heat stress chickens were exposed to cyclic HS at 35 °C for 12 h/day from days 7–42. Performance parameters, intestinal permeability, bone parameters, meat quality, and leukocyte proportions were estimated. There was a significant (p < 0.05) reduction in body weight (BW), BW gain, and feed intake, but the feed conversion ratio increased in chickens under cyclic HS. Moreover, HS chickens had a significantly higher gut permeability, monocyte and basophil levels, but less bone mineralization than TN chickens. Nevertheless, the TN group had significant increases in breast yield, woody breast, and white striping in breast fillets compared to HS. These results present an alternative model to our previously published continuous HS model to better reflect commercial conditions to evaluate commercially available nutraceuticals or products with claims of reducing the severity of heat stress.

Citation

Rocchi, A., Ruff, J., Maynard, C. J., Forga, A. J., Señas-Cuesta, R., Greene, E. S., Latorre, J. D., Vuong, C. N., Graham, B. D., Hernandez-Velasco, X., Tellez, G., Petrone-Garcia, V., Laverty, L., Hargis, B., Erf, G., Owens, C. M., & Tellez-Isaias, G. (2022). Experimental Cyclic Heat Stress on Intestinal Permeability, Bone Mineralization, Leukocyte Proportions and Meat Quality in Broiler Chickens. Animals, 12 (10), 1273. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12101273

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.