Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T00:51:56.145Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Physiological status of broiler chicks at pulling time and the relationship to duration of holding period

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2015

Q. Tong ,
T. Demmers ,
C. E. B. Romanini ,
H. Bergoug ,
N. Roulston ,
V. Exadaktylos ,
C. Bahr ,
D. Berckmans ,
M. Guinebretière  and
N. Eterradossi
...Show all authors
Q. Tong
Affiliation:
The Royal Veterinary College, Hawkshead Lane, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, AL9 7TA, United Kingdom
T. Demmers
Affiliation:
The Royal Veterinary College, Hawkshead Lane, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, AL9 7TA, United Kingdom
C. E. B. Romanini
Affiliation:
Division M3-BIORES: Measure, Model & Manage Bioresponses, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 30 – box 2456, Leuven B-3001, Belgium
H. Bergoug
Affiliation:
Anses, Ploufragan-Plouzané Laboratory, BP 53, Ploufragan 22440, France
N. Roulston
Affiliation:
Research and Development, Petersime N.V., Centrumstraat 125, Zulte (Olsene)B-9870, Belgium
V. Exadaktylos
Affiliation:
Division M3-BIORES: Measure, Model & Manage Bioresponses, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 30 – box 2456, Leuven B-3001, Belgium
C. Bahr
Affiliation:
Division M3-BIORES: Measure, Model & Manage Bioresponses, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 30 – box 2456, Leuven B-3001, Belgium
D. Berckmans
Affiliation:
Division M3-BIORES: Measure, Model & Manage Bioresponses, KU Leuven, Kasteelpark Arenberg 30 – box 2456, Leuven B-3001, Belgium
M. Guinebretière
Affiliation:
Anses, Ploufragan-Plouzané Laboratory, BP 53, Ploufragan 22440, France
N. Eterradossi
Affiliation:
Anses, Ploufragan-Plouzané Laboratory, BP 53, Ploufragan 22440, France
P. Garain
Affiliation:
Research and Development, Petersime N.V., Centrumstraat 125, Zulte (Olsene)B-9870, Belgium
I. M. McGonnell*
Affiliation:
The Royal Veterinary College, Hawkshead Lane, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, AL9 7TA, United Kingdom
*
†E-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Newly hatched chicks may be held longer than 48 h and experience long periods of fasting in commercial hatcheries. Limited information is known about the physiological status of chicks in such situations, due to the difficulty of precisely recording time of hatch. This study investigated the effect of the time from hatch to pulling (holding period) on physiological measures/parameters in 109 broiler chicks. Fertile Ross 308 eggs were incubated in a custom built small-scale incubator. The individual hatching time of each focal chick was determined using eggshell temperature monitoring. At ‘pulling’ (512 h of incubation time), the quality of focal chicks was assessed using the chick scoring method and physiological parameters were measured including BW, organ (heart, liver and stomach) weights, blood values and plasma corticosterone level. The time from hatch to pulling varied from 7.58 to 44.97 h. Egg weight at setting was significantly correlated with chick BW and weight of organs at pulling, but had no effect on chick quality, blood values and plasma corticosterone. Relative BW at pulling was negatively associated with the duration of holding period (P=0.002). However, there was a positive correlation between relative stomach weight and the duration of the holding period (P<0.001). As the holding period duration increased, there was a trend that blood partial pressure of oxygen, haematocrit and haemoglobin also increased, and blood partial pressure of carbon dioxide, total carbon dioxide and bicarbonate decreased (P<0.05). A wide range of plasma corticosterone was observed from chicks that had experienced different durations of holding period. We conclude that shortening the hatch window and minimising the number of chicks that experience a long holding period before pulling may improve chick quality and physiological status, which may be due to unfavourable environmental conditions that include feed and water deprivation.

Keywords

broilerholding period durationchick BWchick qualityblood values
Type
Research Article
Information
animal , Volume 9 , Issue 7 , July 2015 , pp. 1181 - 1187
Copyright
© The Animal Consortium 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Brody, S 1945. Bioenergetics and growth. Reinhold Publishing Corporation, New York, USA.Google Scholar
Careghi, C, Tona, K, Onagbesan, O, Buyse, J, Decuypere, E and Bruggeman, V 2005. The effects of the spread of hatch and interaction with delayed feed access after hatch on broiler performance until seven days of age. Poultry Science 84, 1314–1320.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carmi, N, Pinshow, B and Horowitz, M 1994. Plasma-volume conservation in pigeons – effects of air-temperature during dehydration. American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory Integrative and Comparative Physiology 267, 1449–1453.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Christensen, VL 2009. Development during the first seven days post-hatching. Avian Biology Research 2, 27–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corless, AB and Sell, JL 1999. The effects of delayed access to feed and water on the physical and functional development of the digestive system of young turkeys. Poultry Science 78, 1158–1169.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Daghir, NJ and Pellett, PL 1967. Influence of breed, age and body weight on organ weight in the chicken. British Poultry Science 8, 183–191.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dunnington, EA and Siegel, PB 1995. Enzyme-activity and organ development in newly-hatched chicks selected for high or low 8-week body-weight. Poultry Science 74, 761–770.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gonzales, E, Kondo, N, Saldanha, ES, Loddy, MM, Careghi, C and Decuypere, E 2003. Performance and physiological parameters of broiler chickens subjected to fasting on the neonatal period. Poultry Science 82, 1250–1256.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hager, JE and Beane, WL 1983. Posthatch incubation time and early growth of broiler chickens. Poultry Science 62, 247–254.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hassan, GM and Nordskog, AW 1971. Effects of egg size and heterozygosis on embryonic growth and hatching speed. Genetics 67, 279–285.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maatjens, CM, Reijrink, IAM, van den Anker, I, Molenaar, R, van der Pol, CW, Kemp, B and van den Brand, H 2014. Temperature and CO2 during the hatching phase. II. Effects on chicken embryo physiology. Poultry Science 93, 655–663.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Martin, MP, Wineland, M and Barnes, HJ 2010. Selected blood chemistry and gas reference ranges for broiler breeders using the i-STAT handheld clinical analyzer. Avian Diseases 54, 1016–1020.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Molenaar, R, van den Anker, I, Meijerhof, R, Kemp, B and van den Brand, H 2011. Effect of eggshell temperature and oxygen concentration during incubation on the developmental and physiological status of broiler hatchlings in the perinatal period. Poultry Science 90, 1257–1266.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moran, ET 1978. Performance and carcass quality of broiler tom turkeys subjected to a post-hatch fast and offered starting rations of different nutrient concentration. Canadian Journal of Animal Science 58, 233–243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mortola, JP 2009. Gas exchange in avian embryos and hatchlings. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Part A 153, 359–377.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Noy, Y, Uni, Z and Sklan, D 1996. Routes of yolk utilization in the newly-hatched chick. British Poultry Science 37, 987–995.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peebles, ED, Keirs, RW, Bennett, LW, Cummings, TS, Whitmarsh, SK and Gerard, PD 2004. Relationships among post-hatch physiological parameters in broiler chicks hatched from young breeder hens and subjected to delayed brooding placement. International Journal of Poultry Science 3, 578–585.Google Scholar
Pinchasov, Y and Noy, Y 1993. Comparison of post-hatch holding time and subsequent early performance of broiler chicks and turkey poults. British Poultry Science 34, 111–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pires, DL, Malheiros, EB and Boleli, IC 2007. Influence of sex, age, and fasting on blood parameters and body, bursa, spleen and yolk sac weights of broiler chicks. Brazilian Journal of Poultry Science 9, 233–240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ricklefs, RE and Starck, JM 1998. Embryonic growth and development. In Avian growth and development (ed. Starck JM and Ricklefs RE), pp. 31–58. Oxford University Press, New York, USA.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Romanini, CE, Exadaktylos, V, Tong, Q, McGonnel, I, Demmers, TG, Bergoug, H, Eterradossi, N, Roulston, N, Garain, P, Bahr, C and Berckmans, D 2013. Monitoring the hatch time of individual chicken embryos. Poultry Science 92, 303–309.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scott, TR, Johnson, WA, Satterlee, DG and Gildersleeve, RP 1981. Circulating levels of corticosterone in the serum of developing chick embryos and newly hatched chicks. Poultry Science 60, 1314–1320.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Singh, G, Singh, SK, Kumar, B and Kumar, H 2009. Genetic study of egg and hatch weight in different genetic groups of chicken. Indian Journal of Animal Research 43, 200–202.Google Scholar
Tazawa, H, Visschedijk, AHJ, Wittmann, J and Piiper, J 1983. Gas-exchange, blood-gases and acid-base status in the chick before, during and after hatching. Respiration Physiology 53, 173–185.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tona, K, Bamelis, F, De Ketelaere, B, Bruggeman, V, Moraes, VMB, Buyse, J, Onagbesan, O and Decuypere, E 2003. Effects of egg storage time on spread of hatch, chick quality, and chick juvenile growth. Poultry Science 82, 736–741.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van de Ven, LJF, van Wagenberg, AV, PWGG, Koerkamp, Kemp, B and van den Brand, H 2009. Effects of a combined hatching and brooding system on hatchability, chick weight, and mortality in broilers. Poultry Science 88, 2273–2279.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van de Ven, LJF, van Wagenberg, AV, Debonne, M, Decuypere, E, Kemp, B and van den Brand, H 2013. Perinatal broiler physiology between hatching and chick collection in 2 hatching systems. Poultry Science 92, 1050–1061.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vanderhasselt, RF, Buijs, S, Sprenger, M, Goethals, K, Willemsen, H, Duchateau, L and Tuyttens, FA 2013. Dehydration indicators for broiler chickens at slaughter. Poultry Science 92, 612–619.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vieira, SL and Moran, ET 1999. Effects of egg of origin and chick post-hatch nutrition on broiler live performance and meat yields. Worlds Poultry Science Journal 55, 125–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Willemsen, H, Debonne, M, Swennen, Q, Everaert, N, Careghi, C, Han, H, Bruggeman, V, Tona, K and Decuypere, E 2010. Delay in feed access and spread of hatch: importance of early nutrition. Worlds Poultry Science Journal 66, 177–188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolanski, NJ, Renema, RA, Robinson, FE, Carney, VL and Fancher, BI 2007. Relationships among egg characteristics, chick measurements, and early growth traits in ten broiler breeder strains. Poultry Science 86, 1784–1792.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yalçin, S, Izzetoğlu, GT and Aktaş, A 2013. Effects of breeder age and egg weight on morphological changes in the small intestine of chicks during the hatch window. British Poultry Science 54, 810–817.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zhou, WT, Fujita, M and Yamamoto, S 1999. Thermoregulatory responses and blood viscosity in dehydrated heat-exposed broilers (Gallus domesticus). Journal of Thermal Biology 24, 185–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar