Farm Animal Genetic Resources Exploration and Innovation Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Sichuan Agricultural University, 611130, Chengdu, Sichuan, P.R. China.
Key Laboratory of Livestock and Poultry Multi-omics, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, 611130, Chengdu, Wenjiang District, Sichuan, P.R. China.
BMC Genomics. 2024 Apr 3;25(1):333. doi: 10.1186/s12864-024-10179-4.
The closed poultry houses integrated with a longitudinal water curtain cooling system (LWCCS) are widely used in modern poultry production. This study showed the variations in environmental conditions in closed houses integrated with a longitudinal water curtain cooling system. We evaluated the influence of different environmental conditions on duck growth performance and the transcriptome changes of immune organs, including the bursa of Fabricius and the spleen.
This study investigated the slaughter indicators and immune organ transcriptomes of 52-day-old Cherry Valley ducks by analyzing the LWCC at different locations (water curtain end, middle position, and fan cooling end). The results showed that the cooling effect of the LWCCS was more evident from 10:00 a.m. -14:00. And from the water curtain end to the fan cooling end, the hourly average temperature differently decreased by 0.310℃, 0.450℃, 0.480℃, 0.520℃, and 0.410℃, respectively (P < 0.05). The daily and hourly average relative humidity decreased from the water curtain end to the fan cooling end, dropping by 7.500% and 8.200%, respectively (P < 0.01). We also observed differences in production performance, such as dressing weight, half-eviscerated weight, skin fat rate, and percentage of abdominal fat (P < 0.01), which may have been caused by environmental conditions. RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) revealed 211 and 279 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the ducks' bursa of Fabricius and spleen compared between the water curtain end and fan cooling end, respectively. The Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis of the two organs showed the DEGs were mainly enriched in cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, integral component of membrane, Retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I)-like receptors (RLRs) signaling pathway, etc. Our results implied that full-closed poultry houses integrated with LWCCS could potentially alter micro-environments (water curtain vs. fan cooling), resulting in ducks experiencing various stressful situations that eventually affect their immunity and production performance.
In this study, our results indicated that uneven distributions of longitudinal environmental factors caused by LWCCS would affect the dressed weight, breast muscle weight, skin fat rate, and other product performance. Moreover, the expression of immune-related genes in the spleen and bursa of ducks could be affected by the LWCCS. This provides a new reference to optimize the use of LWCCS in conjunction with close duck houses in practical production.
带纵向水帘冷却系统的密闭式鸡舍在现代家禽生产中得到了广泛应用。本研究展示了带纵向水帘冷却系统的密闭式鸡舍中环境条件的变化。我们评估了不同环境条件对鸭生长性能和免疫器官（法氏囊和脾脏）转录组变化的影响。
本研究通过分析不同位置（水帘端、中部和风机冷却端）的纵向水帘冷却系统，对 52 日龄樱桃谷鸭的屠宰指标和免疫器官转录组进行了分析。结果表明，LWCCS 的冷却效果在上午 10:00 至下午 2:00 更为明显。从水帘端到风机冷却端，每小时平均温度分别降低了 0.310℃、0.450℃、0.480℃、0.520℃和 0.410℃（P<0.05）。日平均和小时平均相对湿度从水帘端到风机冷却端分别下降了 7.500%和 8.200%（P<0.01）。我们还观察到生产性能的差异，如屠宰体重、半净膛体重、皮肤脂肪率和腹脂率（P<0.01），这可能是由环境条件引起的。RNA-seq 显示，法氏囊和脾脏中鸭的差异表达基因（DEGs）分别为 211 和 279 个。两个器官的基因本体论（GO）和京都基因与基因组百科全书（KEGG）分析表明，DEGs 主要富集在细胞因子-细胞因子受体相互作用、膜的完整成分、视黄酸诱导基因 I（RIG-I）样受体（RLRs）信号通路等。我们的研究结果表明，带纵向水帘冷却系统的全封闭家禽舍可能会改变微环境（水帘与风机冷却），导致鸭经历各种应激情况，最终影响其免疫力和生产性能。
本研究结果表明，LWCCS 引起的纵向环境因素的不均匀分布会影响屠宰体重、胸肌重量、皮肤脂肪率等产品性能。此外，鸭脾脏和法氏囊的免疫相关基因的表达可能受到 LWCCS 的影响。这为在实际生产中优化 LWCCS 与密闭式鸭舍的结合使用提供了新的参考。
