Feeding broiler chicks diets containing keto- and hydroxy-acids: performance and carcass weight

Avian Physiology: Are Birds Simply Feathered Mammals?

“…Spleen weights in birds are depressed by stress (see Table 6). This is irrespective of whether the stress is mimicked by the administration of corticosterone (Mehaisen et al, 2017) or represents transportation stress (Zhang et al, 2019) or protein deficiency (Adrizal et al, 2019). It is not surprising given the ability of corticosterone to depress the weight of the spleen (Mehaisen et al, 2017; also see Table 4) that the MC2-R gene is expressed in the chicken spleen (Takeuchi and Takahashi, 1998).…”