Comparative study on stress-induced hyperthermia, level of fear and behaviour of two genetically selected strains of domestic chicks to playback calls

Feed and alarm calls induce arousal in chicks, the former for feeding and the latter for danger. However, the response of birds genetically selected for meat or egg production to these calls have not been investigated. Thirty-six chicks each of the ISA Brown pullet and FUNAAB Alpha broiler (2 weeks old) were randomly allocated into three groups per strain and subjected to three playbacks: no call (NCP), feed call (FCP) and alarm call (ACP) continuously for 1 h. The test was carried out for 3 days/week for two weeks. The behaviours monitored were foraging, feeding, pecking (grouped as oral-related behaviour, ORB), freezing and clustering (grouped as fear-related behaviour, FRB). The eye (ET) and under wing (WT) temperatures were measured before and after each call and the change (ΔET and ΔWT) calculated. Tonic immobility (TI) test was performed after each call and the number of attempts to induce TI (NOATI) and the duration of TI (DTI) was recorded. Data on these two behavioural categories were subjected to General Linear Model analyses separately for each call having strain and day as fixed factors. The ΔET, ΔWT, NOATI and DTI were analyzed using Mann-Whitney U test. On both days, ΔET and ΔWT was similar after exposure to 1 h of FCP, ACP and NCP. FCP caused more (P 0.05) by day and strain. Strain × day interaction influenced (P 0.05) strain × day or strain effects on ORB and FRB, with ORB greater (P