Effect of Post-Hatch Heat-Treatment in Heat-Stressed Transylvanian Naked Neck Chicken.

Although numerous studies reported the effects of heat stress in chickens, it was not investigated in the Transylvanian Naked Neck breed. In our research, Transylvanian Naked Neck chickens, 24 h after hatching, were heat-treated at 38.5 °C for 12 h. We compared the control and heat-treated adult chickens' productivity parameters following 12 weeks of heat-stress at 30 °C. We found that the heat-treated layers had significantly higher egg production in heat stress, but in cockerels, the sperm quality did not differ significantly between the two groups. To detect the effect of heat-treatment on a molecular level, the expression of two heat-shock proteins and four heat-shock factors were analysed in the gonads of control and heat-treated chickens. We found that the expression level of and increased significantly in heat-treated female chicken gonads. Still, in adult females, the expression of and were substantially lower compared to the control. In adult heat-treated males, the , and expression levels showed a significant increase in both gonads compared to the control. We think that the presented significant differences in egg production might be related to the increased expression level of and in heat-treated female gonads.