Calorie-protein deficiencies and the immune response of the chicken. I. Humoral immunity

• Published in: Poultry science Vol. 60; no. 11; pp. 2494 - 2500
• Main Authors: Glick, B, Day, E J, Thompson, D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 01.11.1981
• Subjects: Animals; Antibody Formation; Chickens - immunology; Poultry; Poultry Diseases - immunology; Protein-Energy Malnutrition - immunology; Protein-Energy Malnutrition - veterinary
• ISSN: 0032-5791; 1525-3171
• DOI: 10.3382/ps.0602494

How dependent is the chicken on the calorie (C) and amino acid (AA) levels of the diet? This question was addressed by formulating diets that were two-thirds deficient in C and AA. Feeding the one-third C-one-third AA, one-third C and one-third AA diets for 5 weeks, in general reduced the primary response to 5% sheep red blood cells (SRBC) but not to .5% SRBC. The C/AA deficient birds were returned to a basal diet at 5 weeks and three weeks later reimmunized with SRBC. The secondary response, immunoglobulin G (IgG) titer, of the latter birds after 3 weeks on a basal diet was significantly lower than controls. Total serum protein was significantly depressed during the feeding of one-third AA diet. Transferrin, IgG, and IgM were not affected while albumin was significantly reduced. Gain in body weight was reduced in all groups receiving the C/AA deficient diets. Three weeks after repletion, all groups gained equally.