No abstract

Vaccination is an important tool in poultry health, but is itself a stressor often resulting in a reduction in feed intake, body weight gain, and nutrient digestibility. In other species, vaccination is associated with an immediate acute-phase response. As an important immune parameter, the circulating heterophil/lymphocyte (H/L) ratio is a well-recognized parameter of stress in poultry. In this study, the effects of a routinely used commercial poultry vaccine on the acute phase response (APR) and H/L ratios in specific pathogen-free (SPF) layer chicks was examined to determine if post vaccination (PV) stress and an APR occur. A combined Newcastle disease and infectious bronchitis vaccine (Nobalis Ma5+Clone 30) was administered to SPF chicks by the intraocular route at age 7 d. Acute phase proteins (APP), alpha-1 acid glycoprotein (AGP) and serum amyloid A (SAA) were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays at d 0 (pre-vaccination) and d 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 21 PV. Stress was determined in the chicks by measurement of the H/L ratio. The immune response to the vaccine was estimated by measurement of the antibody (IgY) response to the vaccine at d 21.The antibody titer was significantly (P < 0.05) higher in the vaccinated group at 21 d PV, confirming stimulation of the immune system. The H/L ratio was also significantly higher in the vaccinated group at 1 to 2 d (P < 0.01) and at 3 d (P < 0.05) PV. The concentration of SAA increased by 2.8-fold, from 63.7 μg/mL in controls to 181 μg/mL in the vaccinated group, (P < 0.05) at 1 d PV. AGP increased 1.6-fold at 2 d PV, (from 0.75 g/mL in the control group to 1.24 g/mL in the vaccinated group, P < 0.05).In conclusion an immediate but mild APR occurred in the chicks following intraocular vaccination, whereas the stress response as measured by H/L ratio seemed to be more specific and sensitive. Measurement of these biomarkers of the host response could be a tool in vaccine development.

The poultry red mite (PRM) is one of the most economically important ectoparasites of laying hens globally. This mite can have significant deleterious effects on its fowl host including distress, anemia, reduced egg production, and reduced egg quality. This study was conducted to evaluate the influence of PRM on the serum protein profile in laying hens and its effect on the acute phase proteins (APPs) to assess their potential as biomarkers for mite infestation.Three APPs: alpha-1 acid glycoprotein (AGP), serum amyloid-A (SAA), and ceruloplasmin (CP) were measured in serum samples collected from laying hens at 12 and 17 wk of age, and then for up to 4 mo after a challenge with PRM (starting at 18.5 wk of age). The serum protein profile (SDS-PAGE/nanoflow HPLC electrospray tandem mass spectrometry) and concentration of individual serum proteins (SDS-PAGE-band densitometry) were also compared.Post challenge there was a positive correlation (r = 0.489; P < 0.004) between the levels of SAA and the PRM numbers. The levels of SAA steadily increased after the PRM challenge and were significantly different than the pre-challenge levels at 28, 32, and 36 wk of age (P < 0.01). The PRM numbers also peaked around 31-33 wk of age. The results for AGP and CP in comparison were inconsistent. Proteomics revealed the presence of 2 high molecular weight proteins in the serum between 12 and 17 wk of age. These were identified as Apolipoprotein-B and Vitellogenin-2, and their increase was commensurate with the onset of lay. No other major differences were detected in the protein profiles of blood sera collected pre and post challenge. We conclude that SAA could be used as a useful biomarker to monitor PRM infestation in commercial poultry flocks and that PRM infestation does not disrupt the production of the major proteins in the serum that are associated with egg formation.

Data herein describe the quantitative changes in the plasma proteome in chickens challenged with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a bacterial endotoxin known to stimulate the host innate immune system obtained by shotgun quantitative proteomic tandem mass tags approach using high-resolution Orbitrap technology. Statistical and bioinformatic analyses were performed to specify the effect of bacterial endotoxin. Plasma from chicken (N=6) challenged with Escherichia coli (LPS) (2 mg/kg body weight) was collected pre (0 h) and at 12, 24, 48, and 72 h post injection along with plasma from a control group (N=6) challenged with sterile saline. Protein identification and relative quantification were performed using Proteome Discoverer, and data were analysed using R. Gene Ontology terms were analysed by the Cytoscape application ClueGO based on Gallus gallus GO Biological Process database, and refined by REVIGO. Absolute quantification of several acute phase proteins, e.g. alpha-1-acid glycoprotein (AGP), serum amyloid A (SAA) and ovotrensferrin (OVT) was performed by immunoassays to validate the LC-MS results. The data contained within this article are directly related to our research article”Quantitative proteomics using tandem mass tags in relation to the acute phase protein response in chicken challenged with Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide endotoxin” [1]. The raw mass spectrometric data generated in this study were deposited to the ProteomeXchange Consortium via the PRIDE partner repository with the dataset identifier PXD009399 (http://proteomecentral.proteomexchange.org/cgi/GetDataset?ID=PXD009399).

Prevention of Newcastle disease has received a lot of interest across the world. The high productivity performance of the commercial chickens’ breeds has negative effects on the immune system and animal welfare. As a result, the current study aimed to investigate the benefits of adding Artemisia powder at levels of 0.5% and 1% to broilers’ feed as a growth and health promoter. A total of 120 commercial broiler chickens were grown on the floor in a chicken house and separated into three groups, including one control and two treatment groups. Each group contained 40 chickens subdivided into two replicates. The three groups, namely G1 (chickens without Artemisia powder, as a control group), G2, and G3 in which chickens were fed with basal diet plus 0.5% and 1% Artemisia powder, respectively, were differentiated based on their diet throughout 35 days of the experiment. The measured parameters included the immune response to Newcastle disease vaccine, blood biochemical parameters, and growth performance as well as relative weight for the spleen and bursa of Fabricius. A diet containing 1% Artemisia powder significantly improved antibody titer against Newcastle disease, body weight, and weight gain. Thus, the addition of 1% of Artemisia powder to the broiler’s diet can improve immune response against Newcastle disease and growth performance.

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Gumboro or Infectious bursal disease (IBD) is one of the most important diseases in poultry industry. IBD causes economic losses as a result to mortality and reduction in performance and medicine expenses(de S. B. Fróes et al., 2018). IBD is Severe acute disease of 3-6-week-old birds is associated with high mortality, but a less acute or subclinical disease is common in 0-3-week-old birds (Sali, 2019). IBD virus causes lymphoid depletion of the bursa and if this occurs in the first 2 weeks of life, significant depression of the humoral antibody response may result. The current study aims to measurement of antibody titer and acute phase proteins (AGP and SSA) in broiler chickens subjected to the Gumboro vaccine to explore the intensity of the vaccine strain and the response of both the early innate immune response and late humoral immune responses (antibody titers) raised against the vaccine. A handed Ross 308 chicks were divided into three groups, control, intermediate and intermediate plus vaccine. At 10 days old, the chicks were vaccinated and then blood samples collected at 12, 24 hours, and 10 and 15 days.

This study was conducted at the poultry farm, collage of veterinary, of Kufa included field experimentation which was conducted during the period from 24th of December 2010 to 23th April 2011. The experiment aimed to investigate the effect of betaine supplemented to the diet to alleviate the negative effects of heat stress through study of some productive traits of turkey were being exposed to heat stress.    Sixty unsexed one day old chick turkey(Nicholas 300) average weight (58gram). The chicks were reared on a ground throughout two stages: the first stage from one day old to 12 weeks old with no treatment whereas second stage was from 13-16 weeks of age. They were randomly allocated 3 treatment groups, each comprising of 2 replicates of 10  chicks, the treatment containing three betaine levels at 0,1000,1500 mg/kg diet T1,T2 and T3 respectively, birds reared under cyclic high temperature 27-38-27 cilices and relative humidity average 55-60%.1. Birds in T2 have a higher (P<0.05) body weight in average at 16 weeks of age. And the average of  weight gain during the period of 13-16 weeks of age is also higher as compared to other treatments2.  During the period of 13-16 weeks of age, food conversion rate for T2 was best at significant level (P<0.05) compared with other treatment.3. Birds in T2 have a higher (P<0.05)food intake average during the period 13-16 weeks of age as compared with the other treatments.4.Abdomnal fat significantly decreased (p<0.05) while breast muscle ratio and breast meat yield were increased (p<0.01) in T3 as compared with T1 .5. birds in T2 and T3 resulted in significant decrease( P<0.05) in mortality as compared with control treatment.6. Production index (PI) and economic figure (EF) were significantly improved for T2 and T3 compared with the control.