Pathomorphological investigations of liver lesions of laying hens slaughtered i̇n avian abattoir i̇n Afyonkarahisar province

Liver disorders in animals lead to significant decreased productivity. Diseased livers or diseased-suspicious livers are generally annihilated in slaughter houses. This situation naturally leads to major economic losses in the related industry and our country's animal husbandry sector. It has been found that there have been no studies or records on the pathology of diseases that occur in the liver among the layer hen races as well as no studies and records about the pathology of liver diseases among the domestic mammals in our country. It has been the most important factor in the planning of this study that there is such an absence in the literature on the layer hen races. In this context, this study has been carried out so as to examine the livers of layer hen races slaughtered in the Afyonkarahisar chicken slaughter house by a postmortem way, to reveal the pathomorphological findings of disorders in the livers of hens and to determine the proportion of these disorders on a numerical basis. The material of the study have been comprised of the livers taken from layer hens, 20-22 months old, slaughtered in Afyonkarahisar chicken slaughterhouses. The livers of the 4856 slaughtered layer hens have been examined by a postmortem way. The livers of the 523 layer hens which were with lesion or suspicious of lesion in the macroscopic examinations have been evaluated. At the end of the histopathologic examinations, various histopathological findings have been detected in the livers of 493 of 523 hens and no histopathological findings have been found in the livers of 30 hens Thereby, the proportion of liver lesions has been recorded as 10.15 % among the layer hens slaughtered in Afyonkarahisar province. Pathological findings in the liver has been identified as the reactions it shows against the chronic injuries as well as the circulatory disorders, metabolic disorders, degenerative, necrotic, atrophic and inflammatory changes. It has been observed that degenerative changes has been formed in the 153 of the livers with lesion (31.03 %) and it has been on the first rank. It has also been observed that this has been followed by necrotic changes in 122 cases (24.73%), necrotic changes in 119 cases (24.13%), inflammatory changes in 51 cases (10.34%), cirrhotic changes in 19 cases (3.85%) and atrophic changes in 18 cases (% 3.65), changes in pigmentation in 11 cases (2.23%). It has been found no evidence about developmental malformation, anomalies or tumoral changes in the study. In conclusion, in this slaughterhouse study, the pathomorphological changes formed in the livers of the layer hens slaughtered in Afyonkarahisar province have been identified the rate of lesion occurrence has been recorded as 10.15%. Key words: Layer hen, hen, liver, lesion, pathomorphology.