Assessing and mitigating the impact of heat stress in poultry

Abstract

Over the years, development of poultry genotypes is driven mainly aiming higher production at optimal temperatures. However, recent increase in extreme heat wave events and enhanced sensitivity of modern poultry genotypes to heat stress has become a major concern leading to significant economic losses to the poultry industry. In India, per capita consumption of poultry meat and eggs is significantly lower than the minimum recommended by Indian Council of the Medical Research and there is need for significant increase in poultry productivity to fulfil these requirements. Conversely, in sub-tropical countries like India where summer is severe, accomplishing higher production under current scenario is a challenge. Earlier intervention strategies including environmental management and nutritional supplementation have been inconsistent in poultry for managing heat stress. Therefore, there is scope for exploring innovative approaches, including genetic marker-assisted selection of poultry breeds for increased heat tolerance and application of molecular techniques in poultry breeding to improve poultry productivity in a sustainable manner. Hence, keeping in view the present situation, it is essential to understand various cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in poultry production including physiological and immunological aspects of the poultry birds under heat stress using molecular biology tools that can help in development of poultry breeds which are better adapted to changing climate.