Broilers of 4 different commercial strains were kept during winter at an altitude of 1,350 m. The birds were slaughtered at weekly intervals and their relative right ventricular mass (pulmonary arterial pressure index = API values) determined. In addition, the incidence of ascites was recorded. Two of the strains suffered high losses from ascites, while the other 2 showed a certain degree of re...

Free-range systems provide an outdoor range for broilers to give them the possibility express a higher frequency and wider of behaviours, such as exploration, compared with those raised indoors. Greater variability in use between individuals same flock is often reported. Individual variation may result from differences early-life behaviour or genetic background. Understanding how influences opp...

High temperature is one of the prominent environmental factors causing economic losses to the poultry industry as it negatively affects growth and production performance in broiler chickens. We used One Step TaqMan real time RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) technology to study the effects of chronic heat stress on the expression of genes codifying for the antioxidative e...

To the Editor: Fluoroquinolone (FQ)-resistant Salmonella has been isolated from patients in Taiwan (1–7). Recently, a report further indicated that several patients were infected with Salmonella enterica serovar Schwarzengrund with high-level FQ resistance (1). S. Schwarzengrund has never been isolated from food animals in Taiwan. We report the isolation of FQresistant strains from pork and bro...

Nutritional and metabolic changes in the avian pipping muscle have been discussed by previous researchers. However, there are no reports in the literature on the histology of the embryonic pipping muscle in modern broiler strains. Therefore, the current experiment was conducted to examine histological changes in the embryonic pipping muscle of a modern broiler strain between d 15 and 19 of incu...

Genetic selection in primary broiler breeders may modify skeletal structure, possibly impeding semen transfer, and could alter the size and degree of fluctuating asymmetry (FA) of bilateral traits associated with fertility. Hence, we hypothesized specific morphometric traits could predict differential fertility. Sixty primary broiler breeder males from Strains A and B (n = 30/strain) were indiv...

US Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) data on Salmonella enterica serotype Enteritidis in broiler chicken carcass rinses collected from 2000 through 2005 showed the annual number of isolates increased >4-fold and the proportion of establishments with Salmonella Enteritidis-positive rinses increased nearly 3-fold (test for trend, p<0.0001). The number of states w...