Heat stress (HS) has been reported to alter fat deposition in broilers, however the underlying molecular mechanisms are not well-defined. The objectives of the current study were, therefore: (1) to determine the effects of acute (2 h) and chronic (3 weeks) HS on the expression of key molecular signatures involved in hepatic lipogenic and lipolytic programs, and (2) to assess if diet supplementation with dried Noni medicinal plant (0.2% of the diet) modulates these effects. Broilers (480 males, 1 d) were randomly assigned to 12 environmental chambers, subjected to two environmental conditions (heat stress, HS, 35°C vs. thermoneutral condition, TN, 24°C) and fed two diets (control vs. Noni) in a 2 × 2 factorial design. Feed intake and body weights were recorded, and blood and liver samples were collected at 2 h and 3 weeks post-heat exposure. HS depressed feed intake, reduced body weight, and up regulated the hepatic expression of heat shock protein HSP60, HSP70, HSP90 as well as key lipogenic proteins (fatty acid synthase, FASN; acetyl co-A carboxylase alpha, ACCα and ATP citrate lyase, ACLY). HS down regulated the hepatic expression of lipoprotein lipase (LPL) and hepatic triacylglycerol lipase (LIPC), but up-regulated ATGL. Although it did not affect growth performance, Noni supplementation regulated the hepatic expression of lipogenic proteins in a time- and gene-specific manner. Prior to HS, Noni increased ACLY and FASN in the acute and chronic experimental conditions, respectively. During acute HS, Noni increased ACCα, but reduced FASN and ACLY expression. Under chronic HS, Noni up regulated ACCα and FASN but it down regulated ACLY. In vitro studies, using chicken hepatocyte cell lines, showed that HS down-regulated the expression of ACCα, FASN, and ACLY. Treatment with quercetin, one bioactive ingredient in Noni, up-regulated the expression of ACCα, FASN, and ACLY under TN conditions, but it appeared to down-regulate ACCα and increase ACLY levels under HS exposure. In conclusion, our findings indicate that HS induces hepatic lipogenesis in chickens and this effect is probably mediated via HSPs. The modulation of hepatic HSP expression suggest also that Noni might be involved in modulating the stress response in chicken liver.

Heat stress (HS) adversely affects growth performance and inflicts heavy economic losses to the poultry industry. There is, therefore, a critical need to identify new alternative strategies to alleviate the negative effects induced by HS. The tropic medicinal plant, Morinda citrifolia (Noni), is being used in livestock nutrition, however the literature is limited and conflicting for its impact on growth performance. The present study aimed to determine the effect of Noni on feeding and drinking behavior as well as on the hypothalamic expression of stress- and metabolic-related genes in broiler chickens exposed to acute HS. A total of 480 1 day-old male broiler chicks were randomly assigned to 12 controlled environmental chambers. Birds were subjected to two environmental conditions (TN, 25°C vs. HS, 35°C for 2 h) and fed two diets (control vs. 0.2% Noni) in a 2 × 2 factorial design. Feed intake and core body temperature (BT) were recorded during HS period. Blood was collected and hypothalamic tissues were harvested for target gene and protein analyses. Acute HS-broilers exhibited higher BT (~1°C), spent less time eating with a significant decrease in feed intake, and spent more time drinking along with higher drinking frequency compared to those maintained under TN conditions. Although Noni supplementation did not improve feed intake, it significantly delayed (~30 min) and reduced the BT-induced by HS. At molecular levels and under HS conditions, Noni supplementation down regulated the hypothalamic expression of HSP90 and its related transcription factors HSF1, 2, and 4, increased orexin mRNA levels, and decreased the phosphorylation levels of AMPKα1/2Thr172 and mTORSer2481. Together, these data indicated that Noni supplementation might modulate HS response in broilers through central orexin-AMPK-mTOR pathways.

This study was conducted to investigate relationships between mitochondrial respiratory chain complex activities, feed efficiency, and carcass traits in sheep. A group of Ghezel male lambs sired by a single ram were randomly allotted to individual pens. The lambs were fed ad libitum with a fattening diet containing 30% roughage (corn silage and alfalfa hay) and 70% concentrate for 70 d to individually phenotype each lamb for feed conversion ratio (FCR), adjusted FCR (aFCR), and residual feed intake (RFI). The lambs were then humanely killed and the liver, abdominal fat, pelvic fat, cardiac fat, warm carcass weight, and cold carcass weight, as well as the cross-sectional area of the LM and the fat depth over the 12th rib, were determined. A portion of LM was obtained to determine mitochondrial protein and respiratory chain complex activities (complexes I to V). Statistical analysis was carried out based on lambs exhibiting high and low RFI (n = 8), FCR (n = 8), or aFCR (n = 8) phenotypes. The lambs exhibiting the high-RFI phenotype consumed 110 g more feed daily (P < 0.05) than did the phenotype exhibiting low RFI, with no difference in ADG. Conversely, there was no difference in feed intake between the low- or high-FCR groups, but sheep exhibiting the low-FCR phenotype gained 70 g more (P < 0.05) per day compared with those exhibiting the high-FCR phenotype. It was determined that all 5 respiratory chain complex activities were greater (P < 0.05) in sheep exhibiting the low-RFI phenotype compared with those exhibiting the high-RFI phenotype, with significant (P < 0.001) negative correlation coefficients between RFI and respiratory chain complex activity. When efficiency was assessed using FCR, only activities of respiratory chain complexes III, IV, and V were less (P < 0.05) in the low-FCR phenotype compared with the high-FCR phenotype, and there were no differences (P > 0.1) in respiratory chain complex activities between groups when FCR was adjusted for metabolic BW (aFCR). There were no differences (P > 0.1) in carcass traits among any of the feed efficiency phenotypes. The results suggest that the inclusion of respiratory chain complex activities in breeding programs may be helpful in selecting for sheep exhibiting the low-RFI phenotype.

Heat stress (HS) is devastating to poultry production worldwide, yet its biology and molecular responses are not well defined. Although advances in management strategy have partially alleviated the negative impact of HS, productivity still continues to decline when the ambient temperature rises. Therefore, identifying mechanism-based approaches to decrease HS susceptibility while improving production traits is critical. Recently, we made a breakthrough by applying a surface wetting strategy and showing that it improves growth performance compared with the current conventional cooling system. In the present study, we aimed to further define molecular mechanisms associated with surface wetting in ameliorating HS productivity loss in broilers. Five-week-old broiler chickens were exposed to acute HS (35°C for 2 h) alone or in combination with surface wetting. A control group was maintained at thermoneutral conditions (25°C). Core body temperature (BT) and feed intake were recorded. Blood was collected and hypothalamic tissues (main site involved in the regulation of energy homeostasis) were harvested to determine the expression profile of stress- and metabolic-related genes. Surface wetting prevents HS from increasing BT and plasma corticosterone levels ( < 0.05) and improves feeding and drinking behaviors. At molecular levels, surface wetting blocks the activation of hypothalamic heat shock protein and adenosine monophosphate-activated protein-induced by HS and significantly modulates the expression of feeding-related hypothalamic neuropeptides (agouti-related protein, proopiomelanocortin, orexin, orexin receptor, and leptin receptor). Taken together, our data represent the first evidence that surface wetting alleviates systemic and intracellular stress induced by HS and preserves the intracellular energy status, which, in turn, may result in improved broiler well-being and growth performance.

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of moderate feed restriction on productivity of lambs classified on the basis of phenotypic expression of residual feed intake (RFI). In Exp. 1, 58 fat-tailed Kurdi ram lambs (32.1 ± 4.2 kg BW) were individually fed, ad libitum, a pelleted diet (35% alfalfa hay and 65% concentrate). Feed intake and ADG were determined for a 6-wk period and 3 feed efficiency measures including RFI, G:F, and partial efficiency of maintenance (PEM) were calculated. The lambs were sorted based on RFI and the 16 highest RFI (RFI ≥ mean + 0.5 SD) and 16 lowest RFI (RFI ≤ mean - 0.5 SD) lambs were subjected to body composition (BC) and DM digestibility (DMD) analysis. Feeding behavior traits (FB) were also evaluated for 24 h using a regular 5-min interval observation method. The high- and low-RFI lambs (14 lambs/RFI group) so classified in Exp. 1 were used in Exp. 2. Half of the lambs in each RFI group were randomly selected to be fed ad libitum or 85% of ad libitum (restricted feeding), which resulted in 4 experimental groups: 1) ad libitum high-RFI, 2) feed restricted high-RFI, 3) ad libitum low-RFI, and 4) feed restricted low-RFI. The lambs were fed the same diet as Exp. 1, and growth efficiency during a 6-wk test period as well as BC, DMD, and FB were also determined in Exp. 2. In Exp. 1, the low-RFI lambs consumed 14% ( < 0.01) less feed than high-RFI lambs. Differences were also observed between high- and low-RFI groups for G:F ( = 0.01), RFI ( < 0.01), and PEM ( < 0.01) in Exp. 1, but no differences were detected between high- and low-RFI lambs for ADG ( = 0.79), DMD ( = 0.42), BC ( > 0.72), and FB ( > 0.24). In Exp.2, the restriction feeding regime negatively affected ADG ( < 0.01) and G:F ( = 0.02) in low-RFI lambs, whereas G:F ( = 0.02) and PEM ( < 0.01) were improved in high-RFI lambs under the feed restriction condition. No effects of feed restriction on DMD ( = 0.87) and BC ( > 0.05) were observed. The lambs fed at the restricted level of intake presented a greater time ( < 0.01) and rate ( = 0.01) of eating than those fed ad libitum. Although bunk visits and feeding events were decreased ( < 0.01) with feed restriction, no interaction ( > 0.05) was detected between RFI phenotype and feeding regime for FB. In summary, feeding high-RFI lambs at 85% of ad libitum level improved G:F with no effect on ADG, whereas growth performance was reduced by feeding low-RFI lambs at 85% of ad libitum. However, these changes in feed efficiency were not related to DMD, BC, or FB.