Honors Theses
Date of Award
2010
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
Biology
First Advisor
Richard Buchholz
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
Vitamins are organic compounds essential for healthy metabolism and growth. Additionally, some vitamins also function as antioxidants. In particular, the antioxidant vitamins A (p-carotene) and E (a-tocopherol) are known to enhance the immune response of many animals as well as humans. However, there is relatively little research linking these immune-enhancing effects to domestic turkeys facing parasitic infections, such as coccidiosis. Coccidiosis in birds is expensive to treat, costing the worldwide poultry industry hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Coccidia of the genus Eimeria are protozoans that parasitize poultry via the intestinal tract, causing deleterious effects to survival such as lesioning, reduced growth rate, and mortality. Twenty-two broad breasted white turkey poults {Meleagris gallopovo) were inoculated with 12 000 coccidian oocysts by mouth. The diet for one-half of the subjects was supplemented with high doses of vitamins A and E. Daily fecal samples from each subject were collected starting 72 hours after inoculation for six days. Feces were examined for oocyst concentration per gram of feces using a microscope. The mass of the spleen, testes, bursa of Fabricius, change in body condition, and erythrocyte and white blood cell fractions were also measured for each subject. There was a significant interaction of treatment and sex in the white blood cell fraction (ANOVA, F = 4.716, p - 0.05). Supplemented females showed a significantly higher white blood cell fraction (t-test, t = -3.278, ni = 3, n2 = 8, p = 0.001). Based on these findings, antioxidants may work in conjunction with estrogens to reduce oxidative stress in turkeys that can lead to an enhanced immune response. Future studies should focus on using antioxidants in conjunction with other proven methods to elicit a compound increase in turkey immune function.
Recommended Citation
Orr, Joseph Griffin, "Investigating the effects of antioxidant vitamins on the immunocompetence of domestic turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) infected with coccidian parasites" (2010). Honors Theses. 2243.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/2243
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