تأثيرات إزلة الغدة الزمكية عند عمرين مبكرين على بعض الصفات الإنتاجية و الفسيولوجية لطيور دجاج اللحم سلالة Ross

Abstract EN

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of surgical excision of the uropygial gland at early ages (7 and 14 d of age) on some production and physiological traits of Ross broiler chicks.

A total number of 252 one-day-old chicks were randomly distributed into 3 groups, 84 birds/group (each with 3 replicates), group C: control without surgical excision of the uropygial gland.

Group T1: surgical excision of the uropygial gland at the age of 7 d.

group T2: surgical exci-sion of the uropygial gland was done at the age of 14 d.

The results of production traits showed that T1&T2 broilers had higher (P<0.05) final mean live body weight, cumulative weight gain, mean cumulative feed consumption, feed conversion ratio, production index (PI), While they showed no significant differences in viability ratio compared to control.

Blood samples were withdrawn on day 42 from 12 bird/group for the determination of some serum biochemical parameters.

Mean serum total protein and alkaline phosphates (ALP) levels were significantly higher (P<0.05) in T1 & T2 groups, while the level of uric acid and total cholesterol was significantly decreased in these groups compared to control.

On the other hand, excision of the uropygial gland did not affect serum corti-costerone, blood glucose, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and alanine amino transaminase (ALT) levels compared to control.

We conclude from this experiment that surgical excision of the uropyg-ial gland at early ages (7 & 14 days), especially at the age of 7 days, led to a significant improve-ment in the biochemical tests of blood serum and helped to increase the metabolic rate and protein synthesis, which resulted in a significant improvement in all the productive traits studied.