Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the German Branch of the World's Poultry Science Association, Dummerstorf and Rostock, Germany, March 10-11, 2020 Abstracts: The importance of the prenatal and early postnatal environment for the behavioural and physiological development of chicken

Abstract

The perinatal phase, comprising the pre- and postnatal period, is a sensitive phase during which the environment can have a long-lasting impact on the individual phenotype. The long-term effects might be explained by epigenetic mechanisms, which are also involved in the transmission of experiences during (early) life to subsequent generations (Goerlich et al., 2012). It is thus no surprise that a number of studies investigate how stressors during the perinatal phase affect the development of behaviour and physiology. To measure effects of stressors on an individual, several (non-invasive) techniques have been developed. Quantification of steroid hormones, for example, is meanwhile possible in eggs, faeces, and feathers, providing promising alternatives to blood samples. Several validated behavioural tests are available to describe individual phenotypes, in the lab and on farm. Further useful techniques include thermal imaging and (prenatal) heart rate measurements (Goerlich-Jansson et al., 2019). Nevertheless, potential welfare issues due to early life experiences remain unexplored. In birds, the egg and its components (e.g. steroid hormones), and incubation conditions (e.g. light, noise) affect the development of the embryo. After hatching, the young chick is influenced by its physical and social environment, and nutrition. In the poultry industry, embryos and chicks are exposed to a variety of potential stressors during the perinatal phase. Management of parental stocks and maternal stress may affect egg composition, leading to prenatal effects on the chick’s future phenotype. Incubation conditions often do not resemble natural conditions (e.g. incubation of eggs in complete darkness), potentially resulting in abnormal behaviour (Fijn et al., 2020). Processing and transport of chicks, or nowadays of hatching eggs, may lead to stress and long-term consequences thereof. A sustainable and animal welfare friendly management of poultry should thus ideally take into account knowledge on (grand)parental stocks, egg characteristics, prenatal and early life circumstances of a chick. Acknowledgements Rebecca E. Nordquist, Gerrit van der Linde (Heering Holland), Bas Rodenburg