Determination of the elimination half-life of Glyphosate and its main metabolite, AMPA, in chicken plasma.

Glyphosate-based herbicides (GBHs) are the most-used herbicides worldwide. Concerns about their toxicity and ecotoxicity have motivated scientists to assess their potential effects on animals, as well as their toxicokinetic parameters in rats and humans. However, to our knowledge, such data have not been produced for avian models.

Triazole pesticides exposure impaired steroidogenesis associated to an increase in AHR and CAR expression in testis and altered sperm parameters in chicken.

Unlabelled: Since several decades, we observe the decline of various bird populations that could be partly linked to the agricultural intensification and the use of large amount of pesticides. Even if triazoles compounds are the most widely used fungicides, their effects on the reproductive parameters in birds are not clearly known. In the present study, we investigated the effects of 8 triazoles compounds alone (propiconazole (PP, from 0 to 10 µM), prothioconazole (PT), epoxiconazole (Epox), tetraconazole (TT), tebuconazole (TB), difenoconazole (Dif), cyproconazole (Cypro), metconazole (MC) (from 0 to 1 mM)) on the male chicken reproductive functions by using testis explants, primary Sertoli cells and sperm samples.

Profiles of genetic parameters of body weight and feed efficiency in two divergent broiler lines for meat ultimate pH.

Background: Selection for feed efficiency is one of the best ways to decrease poultry production costs and environmental impacts. While literature on its genetic determinism is abundant, it is limited to one or a few periodic values over the animals' lifespans. With the development of new phenotyping tools, kinetics of growth and feed intake are now available, providing access to daily data on feed efficiency.

The kinetics of growth, feed intake, and feed efficiency reveal a good capacity of adaptation of slow and rapid growing broilers to alternative diets.

Poultry production currently relies on the use of soybean as the main protein and energy source. Reducing its proportion in poultry diets and partly replacing it with local feedstuffs would improve sustainability by reducing dependence on importations and the environmental impact of production. In this study, we evaluated the impact of replacing soybean by sunflower meal, fava bean, canola meal, and dried distillers grains with solubles on the performance of rapid and slow growing chickens.

Maternal dietary supplementation with grape seed extract in reproductive hens increases fertility in females but decreases semen quality in males of the F1 generation.

Genetic selection in parental broiler breeders has increased their susceptibility to metabolic disorders and reproductive dysfunction. We have recently shown that maternal dietary grape seed extract (GSE) supplementation in hens improves fertility parameters, egg quality, oxidative stress in different tissues and the quality of F1 chicks. Here, we analysed the growth and fertility (both female and male) of the F1 generation animals and the quality of their offspring (F2 generation).

Chemerin impairs food intake and body weight in chicken: Focus on hypothalamic neuropeptides gene expression and AMPK signaling pathway.

Unlike mammals, the role of adipokines and more particularly of chemerin in the regulation of food intake is totally unknown in avian species. Here we investigated the effect of chemerin on the food and water consumption and on the body weight in chicken. We studied the effects on the plasma glucose and insulin concentrations and the hypothalamic neuropeptides and AMPK signaling pathway.

A grape seed extract maternal dietary supplementation improves egg quality and reduces ovarian steroidogenesis without affecting fertility parameters in reproductive hens.

In broiler hens, the genetic selection increased susceptibility to metabolic disorders and reproductive dysfunctions. In human ovarian cells, grape seed extracts (GSE) improved steroid production. Here, we investigated the effects of a GSE dietary supplementation on egg production and quality, fertility parameters, Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and steroid content in yolk egg associated to plasma adipokines in broiler hens.

A grape seed extract maternal dietary supplementation in reproductive hens reduces oxidative stress associated to modulation of plasma and tissue adipokines expression and improves viability of offsprings.

In reproductive hens, a feed restriction is an usual practice to improve metabolic and reproductive disorders. However, it acts a stressor on the animal. In mammals, grape seed extracts (GSE) reduces oxidative stress.

Assessment of the body development kinetic of broiler breeders by non-invasive imaging tools.

In order to determine the body composition of parental broilers during growth from hatching to adulthood (32 wk of age), we evaluated the kinetics of fattening, growth rate, reproduction parameters, and body composition of the animals by using non-invasive tools such as medical imaging (ultrasound and CT scan) and blood sample analysis. The use of CT scanner allowed us to monitor the development of the body composition (fatness, bone, muscle, ovary, and testis growth) of these same animals. These analyses were accompanied by biochemical blood analyses such as steroids, metabolites, and some adipokines concentration.