The induction and regulation of broodiness is of the most important role of prolactin in avian species.The promoter region of the prolactin gene is an appropriate model for studying tissue-specific andhormonally-regulated activation of gene transcription. In this study, the association between prolactinpromoter region alleles and egg production in Fars native chickens was investigated. In total...

Artificial selection of White Plymouth Rock chickens for juvenile (day 56) body weight resulted in two divergent genetic lines: hypophagic low weight (LWS) chickens and hyperphagic obese high weight (HWS) chickens, with the latter more than 10-fold heavier than the former at selection age. A study was designed to investigate glucose regulation and pancreas physiology at selection age in LWS chi...

The horizontal transmission ability of fowl adenovirus (FAV) serotype 1 99ZH strain, isolated from chickens exhibiting gizzard erosion, was investigated. Twelve 13-day-old specific pathogen-free chickens were inoculated orally with 10(6) TCID(50)/0.05 ml of the strain. An in-pen contact group (chickens in the same pen with inoculated chickens), hedge contact group (chickens in a pen connected w...

In pancreatic survey, quantitative and morphological characteristics could be fundamental variables for the evaluation of some structures. The aim of this study was the application of stereological methods for estimation of quantitative parameters and morphological evaluation of the pancreas in chickens. Ten adult male and ten adult female native chickens were used in this study. Routine tissue...

Four experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of ultraviolet (UV) light exposure and several cholecalciferol metabolites on the development of tibial dyschondroplasia (TD) and other parameters associated with vitamin D metabolism in chickens selected for high (HTD) and low (LTD) incidence of TD. In Experiment 1, exposure of chickens to UV light reduced the incidence and severity of...

The hypothesis tested was that dietary vegetable fats rich in saturated fatty acids, when compared with a vegetable oil rich in linoleic acid, increase fat deposition in broiler chickens and affect synthesis or oxidation, or both, of individual fatty acids. Diets with native sunflower oil (SO), a 50:50 mix of hydrogenated and native SO, palm oil, and randomized palm oil were fed to broiler chic...

Avian amyloid A (AA) amyloidosis is commonly observed in adult birds with chronic inflammation, such as that caused by bacterial infection. We previously described vaccine-associated AA amyloidosis in juvenile chickens. In this study, the prevalence of amyloid deposition was measured in mature healthy chickens that survived a previous outbreak of avian AA amyloidosis while they were juveniles. ...

BACKGROUND The levels and immunohistochemical localization of muscle carbonic anhydrase III (CA-III) in healthy chickens and in muscular dystrophia affected (DA) chickens show that the muscles of diseased animal undergo a progressive increase of enzyme activity. METHODS An enzyme-linked immunoassay was used to assess the CA-III levels in the muscles and other tissues from eight normal White L...

Received: Revised: Accepted: June 13, 2014 July 19, 2014 August 05, 2014 The use of haematology as an index of health status is well known, just like the use of erythrocyte osmotic fragility and heterophil-lymphocyte ratio (H:L) as biomarker of oxidative stress. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of molasses supplementation through drinking water on live weight gain, haematolog...