Effects of Neonatal Blinding, Olfactory Bulbectomy and Pinealectomy on Body Weight, Food Intake and Water Drinking in Male Chickens

Abstract

The effects of the combination of neonatal blinding and olfactory bulbectomy and the pinealectomy in addition to these operations on body weight, food intake and water drinking were examined in male White Leghorn chickens. Each operation and sham-operation were carried out within 24 hours after hatching and every parameter was measured from 80-day to 130-day-old. Blind anosmia had no effect on body weight but elevated food intake until 100-day-old and depressed water drinking. Pinealectomy with the blind anosmia depressed body weight, showed a tendency to increase food intake after 110-day-old and again elevated the decreased water drinking in blind anosmic chickens.
From these results, chicken pineal hormones appear to be indispensable ones for keeping a normal body weight gain, to depress the water drinking and to increase the food intake only in early stage of life. These may suggest that the chicken pineal gland has an important role also in the intakes of food and water as well as nutrient metabolic control mechanisms.