Badmus Kazeem Ajasa, Zulkifli Idrus, Goh Yong Meng, Abdoreza Soleimani Farjam, Awis Qurni Sazili, Ernie Muneerah Mohd. Adhan, Mamat Hamidi Kamalludin
Telomere is nucleoprotein and noncoding sequence of DNA which protects end of chromosome from degrada?on. It becomes
shortened with exposure to various types of stress and knowledge on how it is affected by heat and feed restric?on stresses s?ll
remains uncleared. This work is designed to evaluate telomere length as a well-being biomarkers in chickens exposed to both
condi?ons of stress. The experiment was carried out at Ins?tute of Tropical Agriculture and Food Security, UPM livestock unit. Forty
broiler birds of equal weight (1700 g ?100 g) were selected from 300 Cobb broilers at 36 days of age and subjected to treatments
namely heat stress, heat stress nega?ve control, feed restric?on and feed restric?on nega?ve control. Ten birds were placed in each
treatment group. The heat stress group were allowed into clima?c chamber and exposed to 34?C for 6hrs while the feed restric?on
group were exposed to 60% feed reduc?on of the feed given to the control groups in previous day. It was observed that there were
significant changes (P<0.05) in the body weight and body conforma?on traits of the birds exposed to the stresses when compared to
the control groups. It was observed that the telomere length was reduced in feed restricted birds in week 1 and 2. Heat stress also
led to telomere length awri?on in both weeks. There is inverse correla?on between telomere length and body weight. Telomere
length had a strong and nega?ve correla?on with body length in week 1(-0.98, P<0.05). This study revealed that feed restric?on and
heat stress reduced the growth performance of the birds and the telomere length of the birds under stressed condi?ons. The study
also revealed that shorter telomere is associated to higher body mass index. It is therefore concluded that telomere length could be
used as an important physiological stress bio-markers in chickens.