Twenty carcasses from a small flock of 5000 four-weeks old broiler chickens were submitted to a poultry disease diagnostic clinic in Tehran. At necropsy, 19 carcasses showed the typical lesions of colibacillosis such as pericarditis, prihepatitis and airsaculitis. One case did not show any gross lesion of colibacillosis or chronic respiratory disease (CRD) but the liver had an abnormal size containing a cystic part at the base of right lobe filled with a whitish fluid. In bacteriological culture, proteus was isolated from liver. Histopathological examination revealed multicentric bile duct hyperplasia and cholangiocarcinoma in the liver. Neoplastic cells effaced hepatocellular architecture. Histological examination of the neoplastic areas in the liver revealed cholangiocarcinoma (bile duct carcinoma). This appears to be the first reported case of cholangiocarcinoma in birds in Iran.

Chicken infectious anaemia is a viral disease in young chickens which characterized by aplastic anaemia and immunosuppression. Between January 2004 and July 2005, an unusual hemorrhage in subcutaneous and intramuscular tissues of broiler chickens at slaughter houses of Mashhad, Isfahan and Tehran provinces were occurred. Postmortem examination revealed severe hemorrhages in the wings and muscles of the legs and atrophy of the thymus in all the affected chicks. Twenty two flocks, collected from slaughter houses of these provinces investigated in this study. PCR was carried out for detection of DNA virus in pooled liver and thymus suspensions and blood samples were collected for ELISA assay. All of the collected tissue samples from the affected flocks were found to be positive. Totally 440 serum samples collected trom the affected flocks were tested in which 316 (71.8%) of the sera were seropositive with seroprevalence ranging from 25% to 100%. The number of PCR positive samples was significantly higher than seropositive samples measured by ELISA. In conclusion, it seems that CIAV has a widespread distribution among the Iranian broiler flocks and the virus plays a critical role in development of hemorrhage in broiler chickens at the slaughter houses.

Overcrowding of broiler chicks due to lack of space induces harmful effects which act as predisposing factor in the reduction of production and performance in poultry. Supplementation of antistressor products can ameliorate adverse effect of various stressors in poultry. An experiment was designed by inducing overcrowding stress and its management by supplementation of polyherbal antistressor, adaptogenic and immunomodulator formulation Stresroak in broiler chicken. One hundred and fifty day old broiler chicks were randomly divided into five groups of 30 chicks each. Groups I, II and III served as control and were only offered with basal diet. Group I served as control with a normal space. The chicks in groups II and III (positive control) were provided with space 25% and 50% lesser than normal, respectively.The bird in therapeutic group IV and V were provided with 25% and 50% less space along with antistressor Stresroak@1g/1kg of feed, respectively. Growth and performance related parameters like feed consumption, body weight, feed conversion ratio (FCR) were evaluated in addition to haematological, serum biochemical and gross pathological studies. Polyherbal formulation not only improved growth and performance related parameters, but also normalized the haematological and serum biochemical parameters. Gross pathological lesions in vital organs also showed improvement in therapeutic group compared to control.It was concluded that Stresroak exhibits antistressor and adaptogenic activity to ameliorate the overcrowding stress in poultry.

Objective: To study the effects of various concentration of Cadmium (5, 50 and 100 ppm) on blood parameters in broiler chickens (Ross Breed).Design: Experimental study.Animals: Two hundred and eightyn Ross broiler chickens.Procedure: The chickens were randomly categorized into 4 groups of 3 replicates each. The replicates were randomly distributed in 12 batteries. Blood were collected after 1, 2, 4 and 7 weeks and the valuse of RBC and WBC counts, Hb, PCV, MCV, MCHC, leukocyte differentiation and thrombocyte counts determined.Statistical analysis: ANOVA and Scheffe method.Results: The values of RBC, PCV and Hb gradually showed increase during course of experiment in 5 ppm group compare to control. However there was no significant difference among groups. In 50ppm group RBC, PCV and Hb had decrease compare to control (p<0.05) but MCV and MCHC changes were not significant. Therefore, the anemia in the 50ppm group was normocytic normochromic type. While in the 100 ppm group the valuse of RBC, PCV, Hb and MCHC had decrease (p<0.05), MCV, showed increase (p<0.05). The results indicate that anemia in the 100ppm group is a macrocytic hypochromic type. WBC and heterophil counts showed increase between days 14 and 28 in 5, 50 and 100ppm treated groups compare to control. However the changes were not statistically significant. Furthermore, thrombocyte counts in 5ppm, 50ppm and 100ppm groups were significantly low (p<0.05).Conclusion: It is concluded that cadmium administration causes gradual hematological changes which correlate with cadmium concentration in the diet.

Such classical growth models as Gompertz and Richards have been extensively used in broiler studies. This study was conducted to explore if 3 types of Hyperbolastic growth models known as H1 (generalized from logistic growth model), H2 (stand alone) and H3 (generalized from Weibull growth model) may be empolyed to illustrate dynamic growth response of broilers and also how effective such models would be as compared with the classical growth models. A set of growth data were provided from 92 male broiler chicks reared from 1 to 56 days. Goodness of fit for individual growth model was determined using R2, MSE, RSD and Bias. The results of the present study indicate that, H3 could give a better fit (R2=0.99993) presumably due to its greater flexibility. In addition, H3 showed a higher accuracy and lower error (MSE=264, RSD=16, Bias=0.5) than the other models, being followed by WeiBull, Gompertz, Richards H2 and H1 growth models, respectively. In the meantime, Logistic growth model appeared with the lowest accuracy (0.99898) and a highest error (3432). A general evaluation in this study revealed that H3 can be considered as a useful tool to fit broiler growth dataset, with the highest accuracy and a lowest error than the other growth models.

For measuring and evaluating factor productivity of broiler industry in Kurdistan province, on the basis of simple random sampling method, out of 230 active farms 70 were selected randomly and the related data for a production cycle in 2005 were collected.Findings showed that the mean of average productivity for feed was 0.45; i.e. out of each 1 kg fed, 0.45 kg chicken had been produced. The mean of average productivity for labor was 10229.11; i.e. one worker in a production cycle produced 10229 kg chicken. The marginal productivity for feed and labor was 0.13 and 2250.41 respectively.

One important issue in using antibiotics in veterinary medicine is the emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Understanding farmers’,knowledge, attitudes, and practices could highlight the factors that influence decision-making in using antibiotics on the farm. Ninety-four poultry farmers from Fars province, southern Iran, were asked to complete a structured questionnaire regarding AMR. A high proportion of farmers (> 90%) acknowledged the association between antibiotic use and AMR in poultry, while one-third of farmers failed to recognize the relationship between antibiotic use in poultry and AMR in humans. Most farmers (66%) appreciated that using antibiotics for the treatment of diseases is very important in inducing AMR. However, the majority failed to acknowledge the high importance of antibiotic usage for growth promotion (71%) or diseases prophylaxis (61%) in inducing AMR. Less than half always adhered to using the recommended dosage of drugs and selecting the antibiotics without culture and susceptibility testing was practiced to some extent by 52% of farmers. Statistical analyses using logistic regression showed that farmers with a history of completing official training for poultry production had more positive attitudes (OR = 4. 0, P = 0. 02) and better practices (OR =3. 1, P = 0. 03) toward AMR compared with farmers who had not the history of training. Most farmers cited veterinarians as their main favorite source of information to learn more about the concept of AMR. This study establishes baseline estimates for knowledge, attitudes, and practices of poultry farmers toward AMR. Program planning for the transfer of relevant information to farmers, in particular association of antibiotic use in poultry and AMR in humans and importance of antibiotic use for growth promotion in inducing AMR, as well as instructing them about the prudent use of antibiotics are highly warranted. These tasks are preferentially better to be implemented by veterinary practitioners.

This study aimed to investigate the effect of different levels of silymarin against lead induced oxidative stress in broiler chickens. Therefore, 240 broiler chickens of Ross 308 allocated to 24 experimental units in a completely randomized design with factorial 2x3 arrangements and four replicates of 10 birds. The experimental diets containing silymarin at 3 levels (0, 100, 200 mg/kg) and 2 levels of lead (0, 200 mg/kg) were fed for 6 weeks. Results of this experiment showed that supplementation of 200 mg/kg silymarin attenuated adverse effect of lead on body weight gain (BWG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) in 42 d. Also, addition of 200 mg/kg silymarin in lead-induced oxidative stress improved carcass characteristics. In addition, supplementation of silymarin in lead-induced oxidative stress no significantly decreased blood lipid parameters (cholesterol, triglyceride, LDL). Furthermore, supplementation of 200 mg/kg silymarin significantly increased superoxide dismutase (SOD) and decreased malondealdehyde (MDA) and heterophyle /lymphocyte (H/L ratio). These results suggested that supplementation of silymarin in lead induced oxidative stress had a protective role and by improving the antioxidant system improved the performance.

This study was conducted on 40 adult Ross broiler and native chickens in both sexes. For histological study, uropygial lobes were removed and immediately fixed in 15% neutral formalin for 12-48 hours. The specimens were rinsed in running water, dehydrated in aggraded series of alcohol, cleared in xylol and embedded in paraffin wax; random sections of five micrometers thick were made, mounted on slides and stained with hematoxylin-eosin, Periodic acid-Schiff (PAS), Alcian blue (PH=1), Alcian blue (PH=2.5), PAS-Alcian blue, Masson's trichrome, Hart’s, Wilder’s, Sudan black B, oil red O stains. The sections were documented in Olympus microscope, model BX50, described and photography was done. The results showed that the all of the connective tissue fibers, smooth muscles, fat cells, Herbst corpuscles, blood vessels and nerves were present in preen capsule in which collagen fibers are classified into two well defined layers, an outer longitudinal and an inner circular layers. All of the connective tissue fibers and lymphatic aggregates were found in the intertubular intersititium of preen. Amount of capsular connective and adipose tissues in females were higher than male in the both species. The gland's parenchyma comprised of secretory tubules and ducts. The tubules were simple and arranged radially around the central cavity. The tubular epithelial cells are classified into germinative, intermediate, secretory and degenerative layers. Histochemistry showed that each lobe divided into two different zones, an outer sebaceous and an inner glycogen zones. Neither weakly acid mucopolysaccharides nor sulfated mucosubstances were observed in the glands. It was determined in both species that glycogen, glucoconjugated substances and neutral lipids are present in the both zones. Sudanophilic lipids were found only in the both zones in the preen gland of native chickens. Except further amount of adipose tissues in females and absence of sudanophilic lipids in broiler chickens, no histologic differences were observed.