In commercial poultry husbandry, alternatives for the use of antibiotics and vaccines are under investigation, which preferably have to be applicable for both layer- and broiler-type chickens. There are indications that the defense mechanisms vary between layer- and broiler-type chickens. Therefore, the difference in immune response between layer- and broiler-type chickens of the same age was i...

pulmonary hypertension syndrome (ascites) is a metabolic disorder in fast-growing broilers. inconsistency of oxygen requirement and the cardiovascular ability make the birds susceptible to ascites. incidence of ascites was accompanied by right ventricular hypertrophy, fluid accumulation in the abdominal cavity and finally mortality. the objective of the current study was to review the genetic b...

The prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in free range chickens is a good indicator of the prevalence of T. gondii oocysts in the environment because chickens feed from the ground. In the present study, prevalence of T. gondii in 40 free range chickens (Gallus domesticus) from a rural area surrounding Paraná, Brazil was assessed. Blood, heart, and brain from each chicken were examined for T. gondii ...

Type of dietary direct-fed microbials (DFMs) or poultry litter could directly influence the composition of gut microbiota. Gut microbiota plays an important role in shaping the developing immune system and maintaining the homeostasis of the mature immune system in mammal and chickens. The present study was carried out to investigate the interaction among litter, DFMs and immunity in broiler chi...

Toll-like receptors mediate immune responses via recognition of pathogen-associated molecular patterns. Polymorphisms of toll-like receptors may affect their recognition of pathogen-associated molecular patterns, leading to varied host resistance to pathogenic infections. However, little is known about the polymorphisms of chicken toll-like receptors (ChTLR) among breeds. In this study, we clon...

This study aimed to investigate the effect of mannose-binding lectin (MBL) on infections with Escherichia coli in chickens. Initially, the basic levels of MBL in 4 different lines of layer chickens, namely ISA Brown, Lohmann Selected Leghorn, Lohmann Braun, and Hellevad, were investigated. This investigation revealed a 2-to 3-fold difference in the basic levels of MBL in serum between some of t...

Infectious bursal disease (IBD) is characterized by immunosuppression due to the depletion of lymphocytes in the atrophied bursa of Fabricius (BF). We have sometimes encountered contradictory findings: chickens infected with the vaccine IBD virus (IBDV) strain have sometimes exhibited a highly atrophied BF, but not immunosuppression. In this study, chickens administered vaccine or wild-type str...

27 Infectious bursal disease (IBD) is characterized by immunosuppression due to 28 the depletion of lymphocytes in the atrophied bursa of Fabricius (BF). We have 29 sometimes encountered contradictory findings: chickens infected with the 30 vaccine IBD virus (IBDV) strain have sometimes exhibited a highly atrophied 31 BF but not immunosuppression. In this study, chickens administered vaccine or...

We have previously demonstrated a high incidence of chickens with persistent viremia even in the presence of neutralizing antibodies (V+A+) against the inoculated parental virus in commercial meat-type chickens inoculated at hatch with subgroup J avian leukosis virus (ALV J) field isolates. In this study, we used an ALV J molecular clone, ADOL pR5-4, to determine the role of neutralizing antibo...

The prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in free-ranging chickens is a good indicator of the prevalence of T. gondii oocysts in the soil because chickens feed from the ground. The prevalence of T. gondii in 77 free-range chickens (Gallus domesticus) from Colombia, South America was determined. Antibodies to T. gondii were assayed by the modified agglutination test (MAT), and found in 32 (44.4%) of 7...