VARIATION IN PULSE RATE OF
THE DOMESTIC FOWL AND THEIR
PURE AND CROSSBRED PROGENY

Thesis {or the Degree of M. S.
MICHIGAN STATE COLLEGE

Harry Ellis Hathaway
3942

TH5515

 

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VARIATION IN PUL E RATE OF THE DOMESTIC FOWL
AND THEIR PURE AND CROSSBRED PROGENY

by
Harry Ellis Hathaway

A THESIS

Submitted to the Graduate School of Michigan
State College of Agriculture and Applied
Science in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of

MASTER OF SCIENCE

Department of Poultry Husbandry

1942

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author wishes to express appreciation to
Dr. E. W. Henderson, Assistant Professor of Poultry
Husbandry, and C. G. Card,-Professor of Poultry Hus-
bandry for their constant interest in the problem
and cooperative effort in supplying suggestions and
materials for the investigation.

Appreciation is also expressed to N. E. Grover,
Chief Engineer of W.K.A.R., Emerson Gordon, Staff
Engineer of W.K.A.R., and Dr. J. C. Clark, Associate
Professor of Physics, for their suggestions and 000p-
eration in obtaining the equipment for the recording

of the pulse rates.

142st?

CONTENTS

Introduction........................l

Review of Literature................2

PurpOSP-IOO’OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.00.0.0004

Methods and Materials...............5

ReSUltSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO00.0.0007

DiSCUSSionOOOOCOOOOO00.......00....14

summaryooO.0....0.0.00000000000000016

Literature Cited...................17

INTRODUCTION

One of the more important problems in the field of
Poultry Husbandry is the measuring of the productive
performance of the fowl. Many measurements have been
attempted, among which are probable relationships between
form and function, temperament of the fowl, etc. Cri-
teria such as temperament are intangible, but if some
precise physical character could be used as an index
for measuring egg production, much labor could be saved
in performance tests. The most reliable method known
is the 12 month trap nest record which involves much
time and labor.

It is thought that temperament is an expression of
physiological efficiency. It has been shown by Totten
(1940), in a previous investigation at this institution,
that temperament is a very good index to egg production.
Buchanan (1910) and Winchester (1959) have reported that
metabolic rate is related to pulse rate. Therefore, it
seems logical to suspect that pulse rate might be related
to the productive performance of the fowl.

Poultrymen in general believe that the different
breeds of poultry exhibit a difference in temperament.
For instance, the Leghorn is a breed that is very excit-
able, and is said to have a nervous diSposition, while
the birds in the heavy class, such as Plymouth Rock and
Cornish, are considered less nervous. If this is so and
if temperament is an indication of metabolic rate, it

may be that the different breeds might exhibit different

pulse rates.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

The pulse rate of the developing chick and of the
adult fowl has been measured by several workers. Cohn
(1925) and Barry (1940) concluded that the pulse rate of
the developing chick emhryo increased with age, that the
acceleration rate is, at first, very rapid, but decreases
as development progresses.

Bogue (1932) (1953) claimed to be the first to
measure the pulse rate of the developing chicken embryo
without opening the egg. He reported that his work
confirmed that of Cohn (1925), and that the pulse rate
of the chick rises sharply during, and immediately after
hatching, but thereafter appears to remain constant for
life. There was no obvious relation reported between
the variations of the pulse rate and of the metabolic
rate as observed during the development of the hen.

The pulse rate of the adult chicken was measured as
early as 1909 by Buchanan (1909) (1910). She reported
the mean pulse rate to be 569 per minute, and the varia-
tions in pulse rates between several species of birds
and the hen was accounted for, in part by the difference
in the heart weight - body weight ratio.

Winchester (1959) reported that the fluctuations of
heat production were simultaneous with the fluctuations
of the pulse rate. Again, Winchester (1940) reported
the mean pulse rate of 29 New Hampshire hens to be 195

beats per minute

McNally (1940) reported the mean pulse rate of
female White Leghorns and Rhode Island Reds to be 282
beats per minute. There was also a correlation between
body weight and heart rate, which appears to be more
fundamental than either breed or sex differences in breeds
studied. The following table is a summary of previous
recorded pulse rates of the domestic fowl. Table 1. Taken

from McNally (1940).

Table 1. Previously recorded heart rates of the domestic

 

 

 

fowl
Type of fowl Heart Beats Authority
per minute

Adult cock..... App. 520 Bogue (1955)
Adult cock..... Ave. 555 (10)* Stubel (1910)
Cock........... Ave. 289158.9 (4)* Boas & Landauer(l955)
Fowl at rest... 500 Bogue (1952)
Hen when at rest App. 550 Buchanan (1910)
Adult Hen...... Ave. 286 (19)% Stubel (1910)
New Hamp. hens. Ave. 195 (29)* Winchester (1940)
Hen............ Ave. 200:18.7 (23)% Boas & Landauer(l955)
* Number of birds studied.

 

The methods of measuring the pulse rates as used by
the foregoing investigators are as follows: (1) Cohn (1925)

and Barry (1940) measured the pulse rate by opening a

small hole in the large end of the egg and observing the
pulsations, (2) The electrocardiograph was used by Bogue

(1952), while (5) McNally (1940) used an electrocardio-

tachometer, which is similar to the electrocardiograph,

(4) Buchanan (1910) used the electrical impulse of the

heart and recorded the beat with a capillary electrometer,

(5) A Western Electric 5A stethoscope was used by Win-

chester (1959).

No reports of a variation in pulse rate between

purebred and crossbred or a correlation between egg

production and pulse rate has been found.

PURPOSE

The objectives of this study were to determine
the variation in pulse rates of pure and crossbred
chickens; the correlation between pulse rate and egg

production, and the influence of the dam on her progeny.

LITA} Jiwill.3 I‘Atl‘LJ [lif‘ij [L11_L£‘\‘. 'b

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The method of recording pulse rate included the use
of a contact microphone, a preamplifier, and a Heston

Electric recording machine, as shown in fi

 

Figure l. The apparatus used in recording pulse rates

I“ 7

lie Shure Brothers Kodel 66A Piezoelectric microphone
is shown in figure 2. The pulse beats were recorded on

15 inch wax records in duplicate 15 second intervals at
the rate of 75 r.p.m. The count was made by revolving

tie record at the rate of 55 1/5 r.p.m.

“‘I ' NW‘ .. -, .
*v . f“ 1‘ ‘:‘-' ' \

 

.'.;W'fmfigfim9*?rfiafiiwflmm,‘  1\9\"

Figure 2. The Sure Brothers Model 66A Piezoelectric

contact microphone

Birds

The pulse rates of eight different "breeds" includ-
ing both pure and crossbreds were measured. The breed-
ing of the birds is as follows: (1) Dark Cornish (2)
White Cornish (5) White Leghorn (4) Barred Plymouth Rock
(5) Rhode Island Red (6) Dark Cornish, male X White
Leghorn, female (7) White Cornish, male X Barred Plymouth

Rock, female (8) Rhode Island Red X Leghorn, reciprocal cross.

(2) April 15, and (5) April 15, 1942. Th insure sore
degree of uniformity, the birds were placed in holgigé

crate

U)

1 -. ' '7" ”.3 . . _ .0 V L. \ 3,“, ,1' . , ’T“-
at seas: 50 minutes prior cs recordings. -he

technique of recording is illustrated in figure 5.

 

Figure 5. The position and nethod of holding the micro» one

r
q

The average count of the pulse beat during two

consecutive 15 second intervals is shown in table 2.

Table 2. Average pulse rate and number of birds

 

 

 

Dark White S.C.W. B.P1y. D.C. W.C. R.I.R.
Cornish Cornish Leghorn Bock R.I.R. X X X

W.ng. B.R. W.Leg.

76 99 98 92 99 99 87 90 87

94 95 98 89 87 89 85 101 96

98 82 104 92 94 87 92 5 82

82 96 82 96 101 87 95 96 101

91 95 87 84 90 90 105 94

100 64 106 76 97 9O 99 96

100 91 97 95 99 95 100

85 86 97 105 85 96 97

89 95 80 75 92 96

86 92 94 88 96 90

95 95 80 95 97

96 88 80 105 105

92 98 98 98 92

85 91 75 98 98

90 95 86 95 102

87 79 75 110 98

97 101 92 98 95

98 94 89 96 95

89 84 80 90 102

85 77 105 96 95

101 95 90 95 88

81 79 91 105 102

95 87 95 100 104

115 89 95 97

87 98 84

96 92 95

94 94 105

91 97 94

87 95 95

84 104 109

96 88

88 88

99 99

92 89

94 92

85 89

Mean 90.5 88.2 92.6 89.8 95. 92.5 87.6 95.7

of Breeds

Mean of Population = 92.5 8.0. = 17.59

It is evident that there is a considerable variation
within breeds as well as between breeds. The mean pulse
rate of the 177 birds measured is 92.5 with a S. D. of
37.59.

The eight breeds were combined and the data were
tested by the method of analysis of variance. It can be
seen in table 5 that there is a highly significant varia-
tion between breeds when the entire population is tested.

The mean square between breeds is 120 times that within

breeds. The "P" value need be only 2.92 for significance.

Table 5. Analysis of variance of pulse rates of 177 birds

 

 

Source of Degrees of Sums of Mean Standard
Variance Freedom Squares Square Deviation
Total 176 10,152 57.7 7.59
Breeds 7 8,405 1200.0** 54.14
Within 169 1,749 10.0 5.16

Breeds

as 3 highly significant

To determine significance of the variance in pulse
rate between breeds, each breed was tested against all
others until all breeds had been so tested. The "t"
values are indicated in table 4. It can be noted in this

table that, of the 28 possible combinations, there were

10

20 which demonstrated a significant variation in pulse
rate. The remaining 8 combinations did not have signif-

icant values of "t".

Table 4. "t" values for pulse rate variations between

breeds

 

 

 

u
.0?

SOCOYV'O B.P. D.C. YVYOCO ROIOH.
Breeds D.C. W.C. Leg. Rock R.I.R. X X X
W.Iea. 5.8 W.Leg.
éD.C. 4.26 2.88 1.06 2.98 1.69 5.88 10.15
«9.0. 5.05 1.15 5.45 2.54 .44 5.59
S.C.W.
Leg. 2.64 1.57 .26 5.46 4.17
B.P.
Hock 16.89 2.29 2.51 8.61
xR.I.R. 1.78 4.50 .24
D.C. X
W.Leg. 5.95 5.20
1:100. X
:BORO 1.0.66
D.C. - Dark Cornish
W.C. - White Cornish
B.R. - Barred Plymouth Rock
R.I.R.- Rhode Island Red

Since Buchanan (1910) and Winchester (1940) showed
that pulse rate is related to metabolic rate, it was sur-
mised that pulse rate might be correlated with egg pro-
duction. To test this, correlations were calculated of

two classes of stock, crossbred pullets and purebred hens.

In the case of the pullets, the egg production record for

11

the first 8 months of 1941-42 was used. The scatter of
the pulse rates over the frequency chart can be noted in
table 5. The correlation coefficient was found to be

.02491.117, which is not significant for these data.

Table 5. Correlation of pulse rate and egg production of

Rhode Island Red X White Leghorn Crossbred Pullets

 

Below 100.5 110.5 120.5 150.5 140.5 150.5 160.5 170.5 180.5 190.5
100.5 110.5 120.5 150.5 140.5 150.5 160.5 170.5 180.5 190.5 Above

 

105.5
110.5

100.5
105.5

95.5
100.5

90.5
95.5

85.5
90.5

80.5
85.5

1 1
2 l 5 1 1 2 1 1
4 2 5 4 4 2 2 1 2
1 1 l 2 5 6 5 1 1 2
2 2 1 1 2 1 2
2

 

Correlation Coefficient 3 .02493.117

The egg production record for the year 1940-41 was
used to test correlation coefficients of production with
pulse rate for year old hens. The correlation coefficient
was found to be -.2l8:.190 as shown in table 6. It is not
significant.

During the collection of the data for this study,

12

Table 6. Correlation of pulse rate with first year egg

production of purebred hens

PulseRate EggProd. PulseRate EggProd. PulseRate EggProd.

 

98 150 101 170 87 159
98 166 94 215 96 208
104 161 84 180 94 190
82 205 77 156 91 172
87 155 95 145 87 169
106 177 79 216 84 216
91 188 87 196 99 125
79 150 89 176 87 157

94 125 101 125

 

Correlation Coefficient = -.218i.190

the question arose, "Is there a correlation between the
pulse rate of a dam and her progeny?" The correlation
coefficient was determined of 11 dams and their 46 progeny,
and found to be .252t299 which is not significant. The
dispersion of the pulse rates of the dam and progeny is

shown in table 7.

15

Table 7. Pulse rates of dam and progeny

Dam

 

Pulse
Rates 91 101 91 87 106 79 87 77 94 89 94

 

76 .

85 .

87 .

88 . .

89 . ..

9O . .

91 .
92 .
93 . .

94

95 ..
96 O O
97

98 t.
99 .

100 .

lOl .

105 . . ..
104 .

llO .

O O O O O O O

 

 

14

DISCUSSION

The pulse rate of the domestic fowl has been measured
by several investigators, and it has been shown that it
ranges from 195 to 569 beats per minute. There are several
physiological and environmental conditions which might
cause such variations. In this investigation, the mean
pulse rate of 8 different breeds was found to be 92.5 for
a 15 second count or 570 beats per minute, with a S. D. of
7.59 for 15 seconds or 50.56 for one minute. This mean
pulse rate appears to be slightly higher than that obtained
by earlier workers. It is possible that the high rate
obtained in this investigation may be due to excitement
as a result of handling.

As previously mentioned, one objective of this study
was to determine the relation between pulse rate and egg
production, but from these data, there was no correlation
between pulse rate and egg production of either pullets
or hens. However, of the purebreds the highest pulse
rate was that of the high producinv Leghorns, while the
lowest was that of the heavy weight, low producing White
Cornish. The highest mean pulse rate recorded for a
single breed was 582 for the Rhode Island Red X White
Leghorn cross, and the lowest rate recorded was 540 for
the White Cornish X Barred Plymouth Rock crossbreeds.

These data may not be adequate for purposes of
determining the general relationship between pulse rate

and egg production. It should be noted that a high pro-

 

15

portion of the birds used in the pulse rate - production
correlation were of one breed. In the case of the pullets,
the birds were all Rhode Island Red X White Leghorn cross-
breds. From table 5, it is evident that the variation
within breeds is relatively small. In the case of the
hens, they consisted of 7 White Leghorns, 15 Barred
Plymouth Rocks, and 4 Rhode Island Reds, all of which

were selected for high egg production.

In this study, it has been found that 20 of the 28
combinations tested show a significant variation in pulse
rate. In the instances of non-significant variation, in
most cases the breeds were both of the heavy type, with
the exception of the Rhode Island Red X White Leghorn
combination. It is rather interesting to note that
there is a significant difference in pulse rate of pure-
bred Dark Cornish and White Leghorns, but the progeny
of this cross did not differ significantly from either
parental strain.

From the "t" values in table 4, it appears that
pulse rate is a characteristic of the sample of breeds
studied. This may imply inheritance in some fashion.

In the case of the White Cornish and Barred Plymouth
Rock, there is a strong indication that the White Cornish
exerts the greatest effect because it does not exhibit

a significant difference from the White Cornish X Barred
Plymouth Rock crossbreds, while the Barred Plymouth does.

There is still another condition present in the Rhode

16

Island Red X White Leghorn crossbreds. There is no sig-
nificant variation between the Rhode Island Red and the
White Leghorn purebreds, but there is a significant
variation in pulse rate between the White Leghorn pure-
bred and the Rhode Island Red X White Leghorn crossbred.
In this instance the Rhode Island Red exerts the greatest
effect on the progeny because there is no significant
variation between the Rhode Island Red purebred and Rhode

Island Red X White Leghorn crossbreds.

1.

17

SUMMARY

A method of measuring the pulse rate of the domestic
fowl has been noted and recorded.

The mean pulse rate and standard deviation of the
177 females studied are 92.5 and 7.59 respectively.
The following combinations of breeds were found to

have significant variations of pulse rates.

a. D. Cornish-W. Cornish k. W. Leghorn-W.C. X 8.8.
b. " -W. Leghorn l. " -R.I.R. X W.L.
c. " -R. I. R. m. B.Ply.Rock-R. I. R.

d. " —w.c. x 8.3. n. " -R.I.R. x w.L.
e. " -Y.I.R. X W.L. o. " -D.C. X W.Leg.
f. W. Cornish-W. Leghorn p. " -W.C. X 8.8.
g. " ~R. I. R. q. B. I. R. —W.C. X 8.8.
h. " -W.C. X 8.8. r. D.C. X W.L.-W.C. X 8.R.
i. " -R.I.R. X W.L. s. " -R.I.R. X W.L.

j. W. Leghorn-B. Ply. hock t. W.C. X B.R.-R.I.R. X W.L.
The following combinations of breeds were found to have

a non-significant variation of pulse rates.

a. D. Cornish-B.Ply.Rock e. W. Leghorn-R. I. R.

b. " -D.C. X W.L. f. U. Leghorn-D.C. X W.I.
o. W. Cornish-B.Ply.Pock g. R. I. R. -D.C. X W.L.
d. " -D.C. X W.L. h. " -R.I.R. X W.L.

The correlation between pulse rate and egg production
of hens and pullets is -.2181.190 and .02491117,
respectively.

The correlation of the pulse rate between dam and

progeny is .252I.299.

18

Literature Cited

Barry, A., 1940. Age changes in the pulsation frequency
of the embryonic chick heart. J. Exp. Zool. 85:157-170.

Bogue, J. Yule, 1952. The heart rate of the developing
chick. J. Exp. :iol. 9:551-558.

Eogue, J. Yule, 195 . The electrocardiogram of the devel-
oping chick. J. Exp. Biol. 10:286-292.

Buchanan, F., 1909. The frequency of the heart beat and
the form of electrocardiogram in birds. J. Physiol.
58:(Proc. of the Physiol. Soc.) 62-65.

Buchanan, F., 1910. The significance of the pulse rate in
vertebrate animals. Ann. Rpt. Smithsonian Inst. 1910:
487-505.

Carter, Howard A., 1958. Western electric 5A stethoscope
acceptable. J.A.N.A. 110: 1111-1112.

Cohn, A. E., 1925. Physiological Ontogeny. A. Chicken
Embryos. V. 0n the rate of the heart beat during the
development of chicken embryos. J. Exp. Med. 42:291-297.

McNally, E. H., 1940. Heart rate of the domestic fowl.
Poul. Sci. 20:266-271.

Winchester, C. F., 1959. Lability of metabolic processes
in laying hens. Poul. Sci. 19:255-254.

Winchester, C. F., 1940. Seasonal, metabolic, and endocrine
rhythms in domestic fowl. fiissouri Agri. Sta. Res.
Bull. 515.

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