Stress Biomarkers in Vanaraja Chicken Maintained Under Various Rearing Systems

Abstract

Stress is of major concern for poultry industry because it exerts deleterious effects on different parameters like feed intake, feed conversion ratio, weight gain, etc. In present study various enzymatic viz. superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and non-enzymatic components like reduced glutathione (GSH), hemoglobin and stress induced cellular damage i.e. lipid peroxidation was estimated to access the stress level in Vanaraja chickens reared under various rearing systems during summer. Significantly (p<0.05) increased activities of CAT and SOD was observed in deep litter system as compared to cage and semi-intensive rearing system. However, non-significant change in CAT and significantly increased activity of SOD was observed as the age progress. GSH-Px activity significantly lower (p<0.05) in the deep litter as compared to other systems, however, the activity increases significantly (p<0.05) at 8th wks as compared to 4th wks. GSH level was found maximum in cage system compared to deep litter and semi-intensive system. Non-significant changes were observed in hemoglobin concentration during study both between age groups as well as the age progresses. Observations of the study suggested that cage system is better than deep litter and semi-intensive system in handling the stress induced by different environmental factors.