Poultry Science

The male camel shows sexual activity during specific days of the year (breeding or rutting period). This is influenced by testicular morphology which varies with the season of the year. These anatomical changes in the camel testis are well established, but some morphometric variations in the seminiferous tubules are still dubious. This article reviews the basic concepts of male camel reproduction with special reference to the seasonal anatomical changes in the testis.

Introduction: This study was intended to investigate the effect of increasing levels of acetic acid (AA) on performance, hematology and intestinal histomorphology of broilers. Methods: One hundred and eighty one day-old broiler chicks were purchased from local hatchery and were reared in a group for one week. After one week, one hundred twenty broiler chicks of medium weight were picked up randomly and divided into 12 experimental units 10 chicks/each). A total of 120 broilers were randomly allotted to 1 of the following 5 dietary treatments: 1) basal diet (AA0), 1 g/Kg AA (AA1), 20 g/Kg (AA2) and 30 g/Kg (AA3) acetic Acid. Experiment was conducted from 1 to 42 days under uniform management conditions, with the first week as adaptation period. Acetic acid supplementation improved weight gain (P < 0.00) and feed conversion ratio (P < 0.001). Acetic acid supplementation showed non-significant effect on feed consumption (P > 0.05). Results: Overall acetic acid supplementation at...

Reactive species (RS), generally known as reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS), are produced during regular metabolism in the host and are required for many cellular processes such as cytokine transcription, immunomodulation, ion transport, and apoptosis. Intriguingly, both RNS and ROS are commonly triggered by the pathogenic viruses and are famous for their dual roles in the clearance of viruses and pathological implications. Uncontrolled production of reactive species results in oxidative stress and causes damage in proteins, lipids, DNA, and cellular structures. In this review, we describe the production of RS, their detoxification by a cellular antioxidant system, and how these RS damage the proteins, lipids, and DNA. Given the widespread importance of RS in avian viral diseases, oxidative stress pathways are of utmost importance for targeted therapeutics. Therefore, a special focus is provided on avian virus-mediated oxidative stresses. Finally, fut...

The fusogenically activated F and HN proteins of virulent NDV induce complete autophagic flux in DF-1 and A549 cells. However, the effect of both glycoproteins on mitochondria remains elusive. Here, we found that F and HN cooperation increases mitochondrial biogenesis but does not cause the mitochondria damage. We observed that both glycoproteins change the morphological characteristics and spatial distribution of intracellular mitochondria. F and HN cooperate cooperatively to induce ER stress and UPR mt. Our preliminary data suggested that F and HN cooperatively disturb mitochondrial fusion-fission homeostasis to enhance mitochondrial biogenesis, and eventually meet the energy demand of syncytium formation.

Newcastle disease (ND), which is caused by Newcastle disease virus (NDV), can cause heavy economic losses to the poultry industry worldwide. It is characterised by extensive pathologies of the digestive, respiratory, and nervous systems and can cause severe damage to the reproductive system of egg-laying hens. However, it is unknown whether NDV replicates in the male reproductive system of chickens and induces any pathologies. In this study, we selected a representative strain (i.e. ZJ1) of the most common genotype (i.e. VII) of NDV to investigate whether NDV can induce histological, hormonal, and inflammatory responses in the testes of specific pathogen free (SPF) roosters. NDV infection increased the expression of toll like receptor TLR3, TLR7, MDA5, IFN-α, IFN-β, IFN-γ, IL-8, and CXCLi1 in the testes of NDV-infected roosters at 5 days post-infection (dpi). Severe histological changes, including decrease in the number of Sertoli cells and individualized, shrunken spermatogonia wit...

This study investigated the impact of supplementing normal and high-fat diets with graded levels of lycopene on the growth performance, cholesterol level of the muscle, and antioxidant markers in Japanese quail. A total of 192, 14 day-old unsexed Japanese quail were part of a 2 x 4 factorial arrangement consisting of a control group; birds that were fed a normal fat diet (NFD), another control group; birds that were fed a high-fat diet (HFD) with four levels of lycopene for NFD and HFD (0, 100, 200 and 300mg lycopene/kg diet). Lycopene level of 300mg/kg gave the greatest body weight, body weight gain, and relative growth rate when added to the NFD, but this level showed non-signifi cant improvement in growth performance when supplemented to an HFD. Superoxide dismutase in the muscle and liver was noted to be high in NFD+ 300mgL, HFD+ 200mgL, and HFD+ 300mgL groups, while malondialdehyde level in the muscle and liver and cholesterol level in the muscle was found to be low in the same groups. Lycopene slightly improved growth performance, but signifi cantly improved the antioxidant status and lowered cholesterol concentration in the muscle. A diet supplemented with 300 mg lycopene/kg could be recommended for Japanese quail.

Chunchun Meng 1,, Zaib Ur Rehman 1,, Kaichun Liu, Xusheng Qiu , Lei Tan , Yingjie Sun , 4 Ying Liao , Cuiping Song , Shengqing Yu , Zhuang Ding , Venugopal Nair , Muhammad Munir , 5 Chan Ding 6 Shanghai Veterinary Research Institute (SHVRI), Chinese Academy of Agricultural 7 Sciences (CAAS), Shanghai, 200241, China 8 Department of Preventive Veterinary Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Jilin 9 University, Changchun, 130062, China 10 Avian Viral Diseases Programme, The Pirbright Institute, Surrey, GU24 0NF, United 11 Kingdom 12 Biomedical and Life Sciences, Furness College, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YG, 13 United Kingdom 14 Jiangsu Co-innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious 15 Diseases and Zoonoses, Yangzhou, 225009, China 16 Shanghai Key laboratory of Veterinary Biotechnology, Shanghai, 200241, China 17 These authors contributed equally to this work. 18  Corresponding author: Chan Ding: [email protected] 19