High-carotenoid orange corn diet altered serotonin and dopamine activity in the brain while heat stress altered total antioxidant capacity in a sex dependent manner in Pekin ducks.

ABSTRACT: Carotenoids have antioxidant properties that may enhance heat tolerance and affective state in poultry. This study investigated whether a high-carotenoid orange corn (OC) diet modulates total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and brain neurotransmitters (NT) in adult Pekin ducks exposed to heat stress (HS). Pekin ducks (224 hens, 56 drakes) were fed OC or yellow corn (YC) diets (n = 4 pens/treatment; 28 hens and 7 drakes/pen) for 3 weeks before and during 3 weeks of cyclic HS (35°C for 10 h/day). Blood samples were collected from randomly selected ducks (n = 8/sex/treatment/timepoint) and brain tissues (n = 12 hens, 8 drakes/treatment/timepoint) were collected before and after HS. NT levels (n = 6/sex/treatment/timepoint) were quantified in the diencephalon (DI), lateral telencephalon (LT), mesen

SUBMITTER: Oluwagbenga E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12683152 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature