Brooding temperatures for chicks acclimated to heat during incubation: effects on post-hatch intestinal development and body weight under heat stress

• Published in: British poultry science Vol. 51; no. 3; pp. 444 - 452
• Main Authors: Aksit, M, Yalcin, S, Yenisey, C, Ozdemir, D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Taylor & Francis Group 01-06-2010
• Subjects: acclimation; Acclimatization; adaptation; adverse effects; animal growth; Animals; Body Temperature; Body Temperature Regulation; Body Weight; broiler chickens; Chick Embryo; Chickens - anatomy & histology; Chickens - growth & development; Chickens - physiology; chicks; Embryo, Nonmammalian - physiology; Embryonic Development - physiology; hatching; heat; heat stress; Hot Temperature; incubation; incubators (equipment); intestines; Intestines - anatomy & histology; Intestines - growth & development; liveweight gain; long term effects; morphogenesis; Organ Size; ova; Oxidative Stress; postnatal development; risk assessment; slaughter weight; Stress, Physiological; Temperature
• ISSN: 0007-1668; 1466-1799
• DOI: 10.1080/00071668.2010.495746

1. The objective was to evaluate the effects of brooding temperature on intestinal development, oxidative organ damage, and performance of chicks acclimated to high temperature during incubation. The effects of acclimation and brooding temperatures on slaughter weights of broilers under heat stress were also investigated. 2. Eggs were incubated at either 37⋅8°C (INC(Cont)) or heat-acclimated at 39⋅5°C for 6 h daily from d 10 to d 18 of incubation (INC(H)). Brooding temperatures at floor level were set at 32, 33⋅5 and 35°C (Bt32, Bt33⋅5, Bt35, respectively) for the first 5 d. The temperature was reduced gradually to 30°C from d 6 to d 10. From 21 to 42 d, broilers from INC(Cont) Bt32 and INC(H) Bt32 and Bt35 were divided into two groups; half from each group was exposed to daily cyclic higher ambient temperatures, while the other half was reared at control temperature. 3. INC(H) chicks had lower jejunum, but greater liver and residual yolk sac weights than INC(Cont) chicks on the day of hatching. Although INC(H) chicks from Bt33⋅5 and Bt35 had lighter body weights than Bt32 on d 5, no significant differences were observed in the body weight of broilers among treatments at 10 and 21 d. 4. Similar jejunum protein, alkaline phosphatase, maltase, glutathione, and malondialdehyde contents of chicks from INC(Cont) and INC(H) suggested that heat acclimation during incubation has no effect on jejunum enzyme activity or oxidative status of chicks. 5. Taking into account INC(H) Bt35 chicks having lower T3 levels on d 5, lower heterophil/lymphocyte (H/L) ratios and similar weights at 42 d under heat stress compared with control broilers, the results suggested that although higher brooding temperatures had no effect on body weights of INCH chicks during the brooding period, those broilers may able to cope better with heat stress.