Endothermic heart rate response in broiler and White Leghorn chicks (Gallus gallus domesticus) during the first two days of post-hatch life

The embryonic modal value of heart rate (MHR) differs between broiler and White Leghorn chickens, but the initial development of cholinergic chronotropic control of embryonic heart rate (HR) does not. Thus, we hypothesized that hatchling MHR should also differ between broiler and White Leghorn strains, while the development of a physiological regulation, such as the endothermic HR response, should not be different between hatchlings of the two strains. To test this, we measured the response of HR and cloaca temperature (Tb) to alteration of ambient temperature (Ta); i.e., 35 °C–25 °C–35 °C, in four groups of hatchlings on Days 0 and 1 post-hatch. Fertile eggs of both strains with similar mass were incubated simultaneously in the same incubator. Eggs of broiler chickens hatched ∼ 7 h earlier than White Leghorn chicken eggs. Chick mass at hatching was identical in both strains, but diverged during 2 days after hatching. Tb measured at the initial Ta of 35 °C was identical in both strains. MHR at the same Ta was ∼ 30 bpm lower in broiler chicks than in White Leghorn chicks, but the difference was reversed to that observed in the embryos. The endothermic HR response was advanced by ∼ 1 day in broiler chicks compared with White Leghorn chicks. As a result, eggs of similar mass in both strains produced chicks with similar mass and Tb at hatching, but during 2 days of post-hatch life their masses diverged and regulation of the endothermic HR response developed earlier in broiler than in White Leghorn hatchlings. This physiological heterochrony between strains is most likely due to genetic selection for fast growth in broiler chickens.