A new insight into cold stress in poultry production

Authors: NGUYEN, PHUONG - University Of Arkansas; GREENE, ELIZABETH - University Of Arkansas; Donoghue, Ann - Annie; HUFF, GERALDINE - Retired ARS Employee; CLARK, FRANK - University Of Arkansas; DRIDI, SAMI - University Of Arkansas

Submitted to: Advances in Food Technology and Nutritional Sciences
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/31/2016
Publication Date: 4/1/2016
Citation: Nguyen, P.H., Greene, E., Donoghue, A.M., Huff, G., Clark, F.C., Dridi, S. 2016. A new insight into cold stress in poultry production. Advances in Food Technology and Nutritional Sciences. 2(1):1-2.

Interpretive Summary: Since growing animals are vulnerable to extreme temperature, climate changes become an important critical constraint to several species in the world. In poultry production, while heat stress has been a rising concern for producers and scientists, cold stress has also caused economic loss worldwide. Our group has investigated the adaptation ability of early chronic cold exposed chicks to improved performance in their later lives. The chicks were exposed to low temperature at 26.7C and gradually reduced every day (1C/day) to reach 19.7C at the seventh day of the study. In order to understand the homeostasis mechanism in these chicks, we examined their growth performances, and particularly, the gene expression in three metabolically important organs: brain, liver and muscle. Our data show that chronic mild cold condition improved the growth performance of chicks during first week post-hatch and their later lives in terms of body weight gain and feed conversion ratio. The cold condition affected the expression of genes in the liver, which implies the inhibition of fatty acid synthesis in cold stress chicks. The mild chronic cold stress used in our study could improve later growth performance of young chicks. This is new evidence that gives us a broader view of how young birds can adapt to and prepare for changes in their environment. In addition, gene expression analyses open the insight into the roles of the gene pathways in cold acclimation; thus further studies are needed to understand the regulation of these genes for better genetic selection in avian thermo (cold)-tolerance.

Technical Abstract: Since growing animals are vulnerable to extreme temperature, climate changes become an important critical constraint to several species in the world. In poultry production, while heat stress has been a rising concern for producers and scientists, cold stress has also caused economic loss worldwide. Our group has investigated the adaptation ability of early chronic cold exposed chicks to improved performance in their later lives. The chicks were exposed to low temperature at 26.7C and gradually reduced every day (1C/day) to reach 19.7C at the seventh day of the study. In order to understand the homeostasis mechanism in these chicks, we examined their growth performances, and particularly, the gene expression in three metabolically important organs: brain, liver and muscle. Our data show that chronic mild cold condition improved the growth performance of chicks during first week post-hatch and their later lives in terms of body weight gain and feed conversion ratio. The cold condition affected the expression of lipogenic genes in the liver, which implies the inhibition of fatty acid synthesis in cold stress chicks. Moreover, the chronic mild cold condition enhanced muscle fatty acid ß-oxidation through affecting the gene and protein expression of carnitinepalmitoyl transferase 1 (CPT-1) and phosphorylated mTOR. The mild chronic cold stress used in our study could improve later growth performance of young chicks. This is new evidence that gives us a broader view of how young birds can adapt to and prepare for changes in their environment. In addition, gene expression analyses open the insight into the roles of the gene pathways in cold acclimation; thus further studies are needed to understand the regulation of these genes for better genetic selection in avian thermo (cold)-tolerance.