Test of cortisol levels that affect the stress of indigenous hens (Gallus gallus domesticus) in various local breeding patterns

Abstract

   This research aims to study and compare stress level caused by various mating models of indigenous hens (Gallus gallus domesticus) by using cortisol hormone as indicator. The study was conducted by classifying native hens into 4 groups with 5 hens per group as follows: Group 1: Control Group; Group 2: Hens fed in normal condition and injected with Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)  in the rate of 50 I.U./hen; Group 3: Hens fed in normal condition with pen mating; Group 4: Hens fed in normal condition with advance mating after injecting with ACTH and mating with 8 times of blood drawing in every 1 hour. Blood obtained from 4 groups was analyzed in order to find cortisol by using Competitive ELISA Enzyme immunoassay. The results showed that duration of blood storage and control group had influence on difference of cortisol hormone level with statistical significance (p = 0.000). Duration of hourly blood storage had different cortisol hormone levels with statistical significance (p = 0.025), whereas, cortisol hormone level was changed clearly at the 4^th hour and the 5^th hour (p = 0.027). According to the results on stress caused by mating model against native hens, it was found that Group 3 spent the average duration of hatching for 21 days while Group 4 spent the average duration of hatching for 20 days and the weight of eggs of Group 3 and 4 was different with statistical significance (p = 0.00). For Group 3, there were hatching eggs by 86% and non-hatching eggs by 14%. For Group 4, there were hatching eggs by 68% and non-hatching eggs by 32%. For the color of native hen eggs of both groups, it was found that color of egg shell depended on hen’s breed.