A structural comparison of fault bars with feather defects known to be nutritionally induced

1989 ◽  
Vol 67 (5) ◽  
pp. 1311-1317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary E. Murphy ◽  
Brian T. Miller ◽  
James R. King
Keyword(s):  
Nutritional Status ◽  
Structural Defects ◽  
Sulfur Amino Acid ◽  
Reliable Index ◽  
Structural Comparison ◽  
Zonotrichia Leucophrys ◽  
Amino Acid Deficiency ◽  
Balanced Diet ◽  
Acid Deficiency ◽  
Zonotrichia Leucophrys Gambelii

Fault bars are narrow, translucent bands in feathers where barbs lack barbules. It has been widely assumed that fault bars result from malnutrition and are therefore a record of the bird's nutritional status while growing or molting. We compared the microstructure of fault bars with that of defects correlated with experimental malnutrition (sulfur amino acid deficiency or deficiency of a balanced diet) in White-crowned Sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelii). The structural defects in fault bars (mainly missing barbules) are unlike defects that accompany frank malnutrition (all structures present, but barbules too short or weak to interlock). We also subjected White-crowned Sparrows to 36 h of total fasting (12 to 19% loss of body mass). Fault bars or spots occurred in the rectrices of 19 of 44 starved birds. Some bars coincided with days on which birds were handled (19 of a total of 41 bars), others (22) occurred erratically in relation to handling or starvation days, but none coincided with starvation days. From these data and a review of previous investigations we conclude that there is little support for the notion that malnutrition always causes fault bars. Many kinds of stimuli are associated with fault bars. We suggest that the peripheral barbule cells are damaged by contractions of feather muscles that squeeze or crimp the soft feather sheath. Fault bars are not a reliable index of a bird's nutritional status while it is growing or molting.

scholarly journals A sulfur amino acid deficiency changes the amino acid composition of body protein in piglets

animal ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 4 (8) ◽  
pp. 1349-1358 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.A. Conde-Aguilera ◽  
R. Barea ◽  
N. Le Floc’h ◽  
L. Lefaucheur ◽  
J. van Milgen
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acid ◽  
Amino Acid Composition ◽  
Acid Composition ◽  
Sulfur Amino Acid ◽  
Amino Acid Deficiency ◽  
Body Protein ◽  
Acid Deficiency

scholarly journals Changes in body composition in broilers by a sulfur amino acid deficiency during growth

2013 ◽  
Vol 92 (5) ◽  
pp. 1266-1275 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.A. Conde-Aguilera ◽  
C. Cobo-Ortega ◽  
S. Tesseraud ◽  
M. Lessire ◽  
Y. Mercier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Composition ◽  
Amino Acid ◽  
Sulfur Amino Acid ◽  
Amino Acid Deficiency ◽  
Acid Deficiency

scholarly journals Metabolic profiling reveals diverse effects of sulfur amino acid deficiency

2009 ◽  
Vol 23 (S1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer M. Johnson ◽  
Tianwei Yu ◽  
Fredrick H. Strobel ◽  
Thomas R. Ziegler ◽  
Dean P. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acid ◽  
Metabolic Profiling ◽  
Sulfur Amino Acid ◽  
Amino Acid Deficiency ◽  
Acid Deficiency

Malnutrition during the postnuptial molt of White-crowned Sparrows: feather growth and quality

1988 ◽  
Vol 66 (6) ◽  
pp. 1403-1413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary E. Murphy ◽  
James R. King ◽  
Jianjian Lu
Keyword(s):  
Control Group ◽  
Free Living ◽  
Zonotrichia Leucophrys ◽  
Balanced Diet ◽  
Feather Growth ◽  
Ad Libitum ◽  
Zonotrichia Leucophrys Gambelii ◽  
The Times ◽  
Ad Libitum Intake ◽  
Time Required

It has often been alleged that avian molt can be interrupted or delayed by food deprivation or malnutrition. We examined this experimentally in captive White-crowned Sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelii). Beginning either at the natural onset of postnuptial molt or 1 month before its onset, groups of birds were fed either inadequate amounts of a balanced diet (60 or 80% of the ad libitum intake of a control group) or unlimited amounts of a diet deficient only in cyst(e)ine and methionine. Except in the 60% premolt group, the malnourished birds did not postpone or interrupt molt in spite of losses ranging from 20 to 38% of initial body mass. Molt was significantly protracted in all except the 60% premolt group as a result of both increased shedding interval and decreased feather growth rates. Their new plumage weighed less than that of control birds, and their remiges were slightly shorter and often deformed or achromatic. The occurrence of fault bars corresponded to the times when the birds were handled, but was not correlated with other plumage defects. Surviving birds of the 60% premolt group did not molt until allowed to feed ad libitum, but then produced a normal plumage in about two-thirds of the time required by the controls. To summarize, molt is a very conservative aspect of self maintenance that is distorted only by planes of malnutrition that free-living sparrows either do not encounter during the summer or do not survive.

Sulfur Amino Acid Deficiency Depresses Brain Glutathione Concentration

2001 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 213-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phyllis G. Paterson ◽  
Andrew W. Lyon ◽  
Huse Kamencic ◽  
Linda B. Andersen ◽  
Bernhard H.J. Juurlink
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acid ◽  
Sulfur Amino Acid ◽  
Amino Acid Deficiency ◽  
Glutathione Concentration ◽  
Acid Deficiency

The Effects of Dietary Sulfur Amino Acid Deficiency on Rat Brain Glutathione Concentration and Neural Damage in Global Hemispheric Hypoxia-Ischemia

2002 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 407-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Joan Bobyn ◽  
Jodi L. Franklin ◽  
Cindy M. Wall ◽  
James A. Thornhill ◽  
Bernhard H.J. Juurlink ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acid ◽  
Rat Brain ◽  
Sulfur Amino Acid ◽  
Amino Acid Deficiency ◽  
Neural Damage ◽  
Glutathione Concentration ◽  
Hypoxia Ischemia ◽  
Acid Deficiency

The essential amino acid requirements for maintenance in the White-crowned Sparrow, Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelii

1993 ◽  
Vol 71 (10) ◽  
pp. 2121-2130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary E. Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Nutritional Status ◽  
Essential Amino Acids ◽  
Dry Mass ◽  
Metabolizable Energy ◽  
Zonotrichia Leucophrys ◽  
Apparent Metabolizable Energy ◽  
Amino Acid Requirements ◽  
Nutritional Needs ◽  
Zonotrichia Leucophrys Gambelii ◽  
Basal Energy Expenditure

An animal's nutritional status depends on (i) nutrient availability, (ii) its nutritional needs, and (iii) physiological, metabolic, morphological, and behavioral compensations that avert or minimize discrepancies, if any, between the first two factors. Of the factors determining nutritional status, the actual nutritional needs of wild animals have received the least attention by biologists. I report the requirements for each of the essential amino acids (EAAs) for maintenance of a small granivorous passerine, the White-crowned Sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelii). I measured the maintenance requirements of wintering, adult sparrows under thermoneutral conditions, using synthetic diets that differed only in their concentrations of the EAA being investigated. I estimated EAA requirements on the basis of (i) changes in body mass, (ii) daily food intake, and (iii) N balance in birds fed different concentrations of the EAAs in diets containing 12% protein and 12.4 kJ apparent metabolizable energy per gram dry mass. For the most part, estimates of requirements based on these three indices were in agreement. The estimated requirements for the EAAs (mg/kJ basal energy expenditure), based on integrating the results from the above three indices, were as follows: Arg = 0.39, His = 0.11, Lys = 0.29, Ile = 0.27, Leu = 0.38, Val = 0.24, Met in the absence of Cys = 0.38, Phe in the absence of Tyr = 0.39, Thr = 0.19, and Tip ≤ 0.07. Cys and Tyr could supply about half of the above requirements for Met and Phe, respectively. Except for Lys and His, these requirements are consistent with those reported for adult domestic roosters.

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