Effects of feather processing methods on quantity of extracted corticosterone in broiler chickens

Corticosterone is known as a biological stress index in many species including birds. Feather corticosterone concentration (FCC) has increasingly been used as a measure for chronic stress status in broiler chickens. As sample preparation is the first step of analytical process, different techniques of feather matrix disruption need to be validated for obtaining better result in analysing corticosterone extraction. The current study was a validation of pulverizing the feather by bead beater (BB) and surgical scissors (SS) processing prior to corticosterone extraction in feather of broiler chickens. The type of feather processing prior to the hormone extraction may alter the final output. Thereby, finding a standard method according to laboratory facilities is pivotal. This study carried out to determine the effects of feather pulverization methods on the extraction amount of corticosterone in broiler chickens. Feathers were sampled from four weeks old Ross 308 broiler chickens (n = 12 birds). All broiler chickens were kept under the same environmental condition and had access to feed and water. Feather samples were assigned to one of the following processing methods 1) using a BB for pulverizing and 2) using a SS for chopping into tiny pieces. Each sample was duplicated into two wells during enzyme immunoassay (EIA) analysis to improve the accuracy of the obtained data. The results showed lower standard errors and constant output of FCC by using the BB method compared with the SS method. Overall comparison of FCC showed a significantly higher (p < 0.001) amount of the FCC in the BB compared with the SS. Overall, using the BB method is recommended over the SS method for feather processing due to the ability to homogenize a large number of samples simultaneously, ease of use and greater extraction of feather corticosterone.