Comparison of the gastrointestinal tract of a dual-purpose to a broiler chicken line: A qualitative and quantitative macroscopic and microscopic study.

ABSTRACT: The transition to using dual-purpose chickens is an alternative to killing male hatchlings of high performance egg-laying chickens. This study aimed to compare the gastrointestinal tract of a recently developed genetic line of dual purpose male chicken, Lohmann Dual (LD), with that of a broiler line, Ross 308. Eighty birds from each line were grown until they reached an average body weight 2000 g (5 weeks for Ross and 9 for LD birds). Six birds of each line were sampled weekly. Body weight (BW), normalized mass of gastrointestinal segments and relative length of intestine were determined. Histologically the villus height, epithelium height, crypt depth, mucosal enlargement factor and the tunica muscularis thickness were measured in jejunum and ileum. Data were regressed against body weight

SUBMITTER: Alshamy Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6195275 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature