Research Note: It's not just stress—fecal contamination of plumage may affect feather corticosterone concentration

ABSTRACT: The feather corticosterone concentration (fCORT) is increasingly used to assess long-term stress in birds as this indicator provides the potential to retrospectively evaluate the adrenocortical activity of a bird during the growth period of a feather over several weeks in one sample. Howev...

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Autores principales:	T. Bartels, J. Berk, K. Cramer, E. Kanitz, W. Otten
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Elsevier 2021
Materias:	chicken stress indicator corticosterone metabolite feather fecal contamination Animal culture SF1-1100
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/ed9646f8077644c1ae4a741c7b46c46d
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:ed9646f8077644c1ae4a741c7b46c46d2021-11-24T04:22:31ZResearch Note: It's not just stress—fecal contamination of plumage may affect feather corticosterone concentration0032-579110.1016/j.psj.2021.101494https://doaj.org/article/ed9646f8077644c1ae4a741c7b46c46d2021-12-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032579121005162https://doaj.org/toc/0032-5791ABSTRACT: The feather corticosterone concentration (fCORT) is increasingly used to assess long-term stress in birds as this indicator provides the potential to retrospectively evaluate the adrenocortical activity of a bird during the growth period of a feather over several weeks in one sample. However, there is still a lack of knowledge concerning external factors which can potentially influence fCORT in birds. The aim of the present study was to determine whether fCORT in laying hens is affected by previous fecal contamination of the plumage. Fully grown primaries 5 (P5s) of laying hens (n = 40) were used for the study. To test the effects of fecal contamination on fCORT, freshly defecated droppings from laying hens were collected and mixed manually. In order to simulate practical and at the same time standardized contamination, the upper surface of the previously determined middle third of the right P5 of each hen then was evenly coated with the paste prepared from fresh feces. The treated feathers were stored for 24 h protected from light at room temperature under a film cover to prevent evaporation. Thereafter, the applied layer of excreta was removed manually. Contralateral P5s of the same individuals were stored under identical conditions and served as controls. Both treatment and control feathers were washed in an aqueous soap solution, rinsed several times in pure water and air-dried subsequently. After pulverization and methanolic extraction, fCORT was analyzed by ELISA. The mean fCORT of treatment P5s (reference ‘feather length’: 12.88 ± 3.16 pg/mm; reference ‘feather weight’: 7.81 pg/mg ± 1.86 pg/mg) were significantly higher (P < 0.001) than those of control P5s (reference ‘feather length’: 9.76 ± 2.42 pg/mm; reference ‘feather weight’: 5.93 ± 1.44 pg/mg). Our results show that previous contamination with excreta can increase fCORT, which was detectable even after a washing procedure prior to analysis. In conclusion, fecal contamination of feathers is a significant influencing factor that has to be considered when applying fCORT measurements.T. BartelsJ. BerkK. CramerE. KanitzW. OttenElsevierarticlechickenstress indicatorcorticosterone metabolitefeatherfecal contaminationAnimal cultureSF1-1100ENPoultry Science, Vol 100, Iss 12, Pp 101494- (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	chicken stress indicator corticosterone metabolite feather fecal contamination Animal culture SF1-1100
spellingShingle	chicken stress indicator corticosterone metabolite feather fecal contamination Animal culture SF1-1100 T. Bartels J. Berk K. Cramer E. Kanitz W. Otten Research Note: It's not just stress—fecal contamination of plumage may affect feather corticosterone concentration
description	ABSTRACT: The feather corticosterone concentration (fCORT) is increasingly used to assess long-term stress in birds as this indicator provides the potential to retrospectively evaluate the adrenocortical activity of a bird during the growth period of a feather over several weeks in one sample. However, there is still a lack of knowledge concerning external factors which can potentially influence fCORT in birds. The aim of the present study was to determine whether fCORT in laying hens is affected by previous fecal contamination of the plumage. Fully grown primaries 5 (P5s) of laying hens (n = 40) were used for the study. To test the effects of fecal contamination on fCORT, freshly defecated droppings from laying hens were collected and mixed manually. In order to simulate practical and at the same time standardized contamination, the upper surface of the previously determined middle third of the right P5 of each hen then was evenly coated with the paste prepared from fresh feces. The treated feathers were stored for 24 h protected from light at room temperature under a film cover to prevent evaporation. Thereafter, the applied layer of excreta was removed manually. Contralateral P5s of the same individuals were stored under identical conditions and served as controls. Both treatment and control feathers were washed in an aqueous soap solution, rinsed several times in pure water and air-dried subsequently. After pulverization and methanolic extraction, fCORT was analyzed by ELISA. The mean fCORT of treatment P5s (reference ‘feather length’: 12.88 ± 3.16 pg/mm; reference ‘feather weight’: 7.81 pg/mg ± 1.86 pg/mg) were significantly higher (P < 0.001) than those of control P5s (reference ‘feather length’: 9.76 ± 2.42 pg/mm; reference ‘feather weight’: 5.93 ± 1.44 pg/mg). Our results show that previous contamination with excreta can increase fCORT, which was detectable even after a washing procedure prior to analysis. In conclusion, fecal contamination of feathers is a significant influencing factor that has to be considered when applying fCORT measurements.
format	article
author	T. Bartels J. Berk K. Cramer E. Kanitz W. Otten
author_facet	T. Bartels J. Berk K. Cramer E. Kanitz W. Otten
author_sort	T. Bartels
title	Research Note: It's not just stress—fecal contamination of plumage may affect feather corticosterone concentration
title_short	Research Note: It's not just stress—fecal contamination of plumage may affect feather corticosterone concentration
title_full	Research Note: It's not just stress—fecal contamination of plumage may affect feather corticosterone concentration
title_fullStr	Research Note: It's not just stress—fecal contamination of plumage may affect feather corticosterone concentration
title_full_unstemmed	Research Note: It's not just stress—fecal contamination of plumage may affect feather corticosterone concentration
title_sort	research note: it's not just stress—fecal contamination of plumage may affect feather corticosterone concentration
publisher	Elsevier
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/ed9646f8077644c1ae4a741c7b46c46d
work_keys_str_mv	AT tbartels researchnoteitsnotjuststressfecalcontaminationofplumagemayaffectfeathercorticosteroneconcentration AT jberk researchnoteitsnotjuststressfecalcontaminationofplumagemayaffectfeathercorticosteroneconcentration AT kcramer researchnoteitsnotjuststressfecalcontaminationofplumagemayaffectfeathercorticosteroneconcentration AT ekanitz researchnoteitsnotjuststressfecalcontaminationofplumagemayaffectfeathercorticosteroneconcentration AT wotten researchnoteitsnotjuststressfecalcontaminationofplumagemayaffectfeathercorticosteroneconcentration
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Research Note: It's not just stress—fecal contamination of plumage may affect feather corticosterone concentration

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