Roland Tóth: Animal Biotechnology Department (AB), Institute of Genetics and Biotechnology (GBI), Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, 2100 Gödöllő, Hungary. ORCID
Nikolett Tokodyné Szabadi: Animal Biotechnology Department (AB), Institute of Genetics and Biotechnology (GBI), Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, 2100 Gödöllő, Hungary.
Bence Lázár: Animal Biotechnology Department (AB), Institute of Genetics and Biotechnology (GBI), Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, 2100 Gödöllő, Hungary. ORCID
Kitti Buda: Institute for Farm Animal Gene Conservation, National Centre for Biodiversity and Gene Conservation, 2100 Gödöllő, Hungary.
Barbara Végi: Institute for Farm Animal Gene Conservation, National Centre for Biodiversity and Gene Conservation, 2100 Gödöllő, Hungary.
Judit Barna: Institute for Farm Animal Gene Conservation, National Centre for Biodiversity and Gene Conservation, 2100 Gödöllő, Hungary.
Eszter Patakiné Várkonyi: Institute for Farm Animal Gene Conservation, National Centre for Biodiversity and Gene Conservation, 2100 Gödöllő, Hungary. ORCID
Krisztina Liptói: Institute for Farm Animal Gene Conservation, National Centre for Biodiversity and Gene Conservation, 2100 Gödöllő, Hungary.
Bertrand Pain: Stem-Cell and Brain Research Institute, U1208 INSERM, USC1361 INRA, 69675 Bron, France.
Elen Gócza: Animal Biotechnology Department (AB), Institute of Genetics and Biotechnology (GBI), Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, 2100 Gödöllő, Hungary.
Although numerous studies reported the effects of heat stress in chickens, it was not investigated in the Transylvanian Naked Neck breed. In our research, Transylvanian Naked Neck chickens, 24 h after hatching, were heat-treated at 38.5 °C for 12 h. We compared the control and heat-treated adult chickens' productivity parameters following 12 weeks of heat-stress at 30 °C. We found that the heat-treated layers had significantly higher egg production in heat stress, but in cockerels, the sperm quality did not differ significantly between the two groups. To detect the effect of heat-treatment on a molecular level, the expression of two heat-shock proteins and four heat-shock factors were analysed in the gonads of control and heat-treated chickens. We found that the expression level of and increased significantly in heat-treated female chicken gonads. Still, in adult females, the expression of and were substantially lower compared to the control. In adult heat-treated males, the , and expression levels showed a significant increase in both gonads compared to the control. We think that the presented significant differences in egg production might be related to the increased expression level of and in heat-treated female gonads.
