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Behavioral changes and feathering score in heat stressedbroiler chickens fed diets containing different levels ofpropolis

Research Authors
Usama Taha Mahmouda, Mootaz Ahmed Mohamed Abdel-Rahman,Madeha Hosni Ahmed Darwish, Todd Jay Applegate, Heng-wei Cheng
Research Abstract

This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary supplementation of greenBrazilian propolis on behavioral patterns and feather condition of heat stressed broilerchickens. Five hundred and four (504) male Ross 708 broiler chicks at 15-day old wererandomly allotted to six dietary treatments containing 0 (control), 100, 250, 500, 1000and 3000 mg kg−1propolis, respectively. Each treatment consisted of four replicates of 21birds each. Heat stress at 32◦C was applied daily from 08:00 am to 17:00 pm from day15–42. Twelve birds per treatment were randomly taken and marked with livestock colorfor behavioral observation. Treatment effects on behavioral patterns were recorded usingdirect observation instantaneous scan sampling technique. At the end of the experiment(42 days of age) the three birds used for behavioral observation were feather scored (from 1to 5); while all birds (504) were individually scanned for primary feather abnormalities. Theresults indicated that the effects of using propolis as a feed additive for broilers reducedheat stress behavior, especially dietary treatment with 250 or 3000 mg kg−1propolis, byincreasing bird walking activities and reducing panting behaviors (P < 0.05, respectively).Moreover, 250 mg kg−1propolis (P < 0.05) increased standing behavior also. Walking activ-ities was also increased in the birds fed with 100 mg kg−1propolis (P < 0.05). There were nosignificant (P > 0.05) treatment effects on sitting, preening, feeding, drinking, wing eleva-tions and feather pecking activities. Propolis at current doses did not significantly (P > 0.05)improve feather scoring, but reduced (P = 0.048) abnormal shape of primary feathers. Thecurrent results support that propolis treatment may be considered as a protective manage-ment practice in broiler chickens to alleviate the negative effects of heat stress, but furtherinvestigations may requested to determine the best type, dose, time and duration of itsadministration.

Research Department
Research Journal
Applied Animal Behaviour Science
Research Publisher
elsevier
Research Rank
1
Research Vol
166
Research Website
NULL
Research Year
2015
Research Pages
98-105