Abstract
Cold temperature is a common environmental stressor that induces pathophysiological stress in birds with profound economic losses. Current methods used for preventing cold stress, such as reducing ventilation and using gas heaters, are facing challenges due to poor indoor air quality and deleterious effects on bird and caretaker health. The aim of this study was to examine if the novel designed warmed perch system, as a thermal device, can reduce cold stress-associated adverse effects on laying hens. Seventy-two 32-week-old DeKalb hens were randomly assigned to 36 cages arranged to 3 banks. The banks were assigned to 1 of 3 treatments: cages with warmed perches (WP; perches with circulating water at 30°C), air perches (AP, regular perches only), or no perches (NP) for a 21-d trial. The room temperature was set at 10°C during the entire experimental period. Rectal temperature and body weight were measured from the same bird of each cage at d 1, 8, 15, and 21 during the cold exposure. Egg production was recorded daily. Feed intake, egg and eggshell quality were determined during the 1st and 3rd wk of cold stress. Plasma levels of corticosterone, thyroid hormones (3, 3’, 5-triiodothyronine and thyroxine), interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-10, were determined after 1 d and 21 d of cold exposure. Compared to both AP and NP hens, WP hens were able to maintain their body temperature without increasing feed intake and losing BW. The eggs from WP hens had thicker eggshell during the 3rd wk of cold exposure. Warmed perch hens also had a lower thyroxine conversion rate (3, 3’, 5-triiodothyronine/thyroxine) at d 1, while higher plasma concentrations of IL-6 at d 21. Plasma levels of corticosterone, 3, 3’, 5-triiodothyronine, and IL-10 were not different among treatments. Our results indicate that the warmed perch system can be used as a novel thermal device for preventing cold stress-induced negative effects on hen health and welfare through regulating immunity and metabolic hormonal homeostasis.
Highlights
Cold temperature is a common environmental stressor that has a great impact on the poultry industries, inducing pathophysiological stress in birds with profound economic losses
Our results indicate that the warmed perch system can be used as a novel thermal device for preventing cold stress-induced negative effects on hen health and welfare through regulating innate immunity and metabolic hormonal homeostasis
The warmed perches (WP) successfully provided a warm source for the hens as indicated by the much higher perch temperature compared to the cage, room, and AP temperature (Figure 2a)
Summary
Cold temperature is a common environmental stressor that has a great impact on the poultry industries, inducing pathophysiological stress in birds with profound economic losses. Commercial laying hens have been genetically selected for high production with low body mass to increase feed conversion ratio. Egg production is energy demanding (Sakomura et al, 2019), together with the low body mass, commercial laying hens’ performance could be worse in cold winter weather as compared to hot summer seasons. It has been estimated by environmental and heat-transference data that laying hens lost four times more energy during cold weather in order to maintain their body temperature (Alves et al, 2012). High NH3 concentrations adversely affect the health and production of hens as well as animal caretakers (Xin et al, 2011; Zhao et al, 2013), causing respiratory illness including coughing, upper respiratory tract bleeding, excessive secretions, and lung inflammation or infection (Kilic and Yaslioglu, 2014)
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