Expression of Estrogen Receptor α in gonads of in-ovo estrogen exposed male chickens (Gallus domesticus) with and without post hatching estrogen treatment.

Poultry industry is one of the fast growing livestock industries in the world. One of the key features of the layer industry is, it doesn’t require commercial male chicks for the table egg production. Chickens have bipotential gonads which means the sexual differentiation will be followed by the gonadal differentiation at day 6 of embryonic life. Estrogen Receptor (ER) mediate the female gonadal differentiation. This study was aimed for observing the expression of ER α in gonads of in-ovo estrogen exposed male chickens (Gallus domesticus) with and without post hatching estrogen treatment.This is a collaborative research project with Sabaragamuwa University,Sri Lanka which was two third of funding provided by IRD and balance was self-funded by student.