Acute phase proteins response to feed deprivation in broiler chickens

Abstract

Feed deprivation in poultry farming imposes some degree of stress to the birds, and adversely affects their well -being. Serum levels of acute phase proteins (APP) are potential physiological indicators of stress attributed to feed deprivation. However, it has not been determined how long it takes for a measurable APP response to stressors to occur in avian species. An experiment was designed to delineate the APP and circulating levels of corticosterone responses in commercial broiler chickens to feed deprivation for 30 h. It was hypothesized that feed deprivation would elicit both APP and corticosterone (CORT) reactions within 30 h that is probably associated with stress of hunger. Twenty-one day old birds were subjected to one of 5 feed deprivation periods: 0 (ad libitum, AL), 6, 12, 18, 24, and 30 h. Upon completion of the deprivation period, blood samples were collected to determine serum CORT, ovotransferrin (OVT), α1-acid glycoprotein (AGP), and ceruloplasmin (CP) concentrations. Results showed that feed deprivation for 24 h or more caused a marked elevation in CORT (P=0.002 and P<0.0001, respectively) when compared to AL. However, increases in AGP (P=0.0005), CP (P=0.0002), and OVT (P=0.0003) were only noted following 30 h of feed deprivation. It is concluded that elicitation of AGP, CP, and OVT response may represent a more chronic stressful condition than CORT response in assessing the well-being of broiler chickens.

Diet Supplementation with a Bioactive Pomace Extract from Olea europaea Partially Mitigates Negative Effects on Gut Health Arising from a Short-Term Fasting Period in Broiler Chickens

“…Broilers fasted during 15.5 h showed higher AGP serum concentration compared to CNF animals. Similar findings were observed by Najafi et al [42] in broilers after a longer period of food deprivation (30 h). This acute phase protein has been also reported to increase in serum of birds, with an increase of intestinal permeability caused by a rich NSP diet plus a coccidian challenge [27].…”

Effect of the Addition of Humic Substances as Growth Promoter in Broiler Chickens Under Two Feeding Regimens

“…In ceca tissues from molted hens subjected to 14-d of feed withdrawal, Salmonella invasion was increased compared to ceca tissue from controls hens [63] and in chicks subjected to 24-h of feed restriction, increased liver bacterial translocation was observed [5]. Furthermore, increased serum levels of corticosterone and several acute-phase proteins were reported in broilers from 18 to 30 h after the initiation of feed deprivation [64] as indicative of an inflammatory process. In our research, the lack of differences in LAB, C. perfringens and excretion of oocysts might have been because samples were taken in broilers in the fed-state.…”

Effect of Zinc Sulfate and Zinc Glycine Chelate on Concentrations of Acute Phase Proteins in Chicken Serum and Liver Tissue

“…However, the concentration of these proteins depends on numerous endogenous and exogenous factors that are associated with diet [1][2][3][39][40][41][42]. The available literature contains no information on the effect of feed additives in the form of zinc glycine chelates and zinc sulfates on the concentration of the APPs in poultry.…”