Vet World Vol.17 June-2024 Article - 16
Research Article
Veterinary World, 17(6): 1311-1317
https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2024.1311-1317
Impact of thermal manipulation during embryogenesis on thermotolerance and semen quality of Mandarah roosters exposed to heat stress
2. Department of Poultry Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.
Background and Aim: The management of incubation conditions impacts embryonic development, hatchability, and post-hatch performance. This study aimed to examine the effects of thermal manipulation (TM) during embryonic development on roosters’ thermotolerance, antioxidant activity, immunity, and semen quality under heat-stress conditions.
Materials and Methods: 1200 fertile eggs were distributed evenly between two groups, each containing three replicates (200 eggs/replicate). The first group (G1) was held in the commercial setter with a consistent temperature of 37.5°C and 55% relative humidity (RH) through the 18-day incubation period, acting as a control, while the second group (G2) experienced these conditions until only the 11th day. The eggs were incubated at 39.5°C with 60% RH for 4 h each day from the 12th to the 18th day. From the 19th to 22nd incubation days, both groups maintained a consistent temperature of 37.2°C with a RH of 70%. Two hundred hatched male chicks per treatment group were moved into a closed-system house. All roosters were exposed to a 6-h daily heat challenge with a temperature of 35°C and a humidity of 70% between their 36th and 40th weeks of age.
Results: Roosters of G2 exposed to thermal challenge showed improvements (p ≤ 0.05) in multiple blood biochemical, antioxidant, and immunity markers, including total protein, globulin, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, triiodothyronine, thyroxine, corticosterone, testosterone, total antioxidant capacity, malondialdehyde, immunoglobulin G, immunoglobulin M, and immunoglobulin A levels. Improved semen quality characteristics, including ejaculate volume, sperm concentration, motility, livability, and quality factor, as well as enhanced thermoregulation in post-hatch cocks, were also achieved (p ≤ 0.05).
Conclusion: To boost antioxidant activity, immunity, thermotolerance, and semen parameters in roosters under heat-stress conditions, TM application during egg incubation, specifically at 12–18 days, is recommended.
Keywords: antioxidant capacity, immunity, incubation temperature, semen characteristics, testosterone, thermotolerance.
How to cite this article: El-Prollosy A, Iraqi E, Elsayed N, Khalil H, El-Saadany A, and El-Sabrout K (2024) Impact of thermal manipulation during embryogenesis on thermotolerance and semen quality of Mandarah roosters exposed to heat stress, Veterinary World, 17(6): 1311–1317.
Received: 2024-04-28 Accepted: 2024-05-28 Published online: 2024-06-19
Corresponding author: E-mail:
DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2024.1311-1317
Copyright: El-Prollosy, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/ publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
