Monocytes from 10 week-old specific pathogen-free turkeys were isolated from peripheral blood by density centrifugation and assayed for their oxidative activity by means of a luminometer. Chemiluminescence (CL) properties after stimulation with different soluble and particulate stimuli were compared in lucigenin- and luminol-enhanced assays. A distinct response could be measured with 12-phorbol 13-myristate acetate (PMA) and Zymosan A, but only a weak signal was obtained with calcium ionophore A23187. No oxidative activity could be induced with N-formyl-methionyl-phenylalanine. Peak maxima for both lucigenin- and luminol-enhanced CL were ranked: PMA > Zymosan A > calcium ionophore. The velocity of the lucigenin- and luminol-enhanced responses induced by calcium ionophore were of similar magnitude, but the lucigenin-enhanced responses of Zymosan A and PMA-stimulated monocytes were respectively about 5 and 10 times higher than those obtained in luminol-enhanced assays. No peroxidase activity could be detected in the purified turkey monocytes. As luminol-enhanced CL primarily results from the peroxidase activity, this lack of myeloperoxidase may explain the observed lower responses to the different stimuli, in the presence of a luminol. In contrast, lucigenin-enhanced CL is not related to peroxidase activity, but is a selective probe of oxidase activity. Irrespective of the myeloperoxidase deficiency, different soluble and particulate stimuli induced a significant and reproducible CL response in turkey monocytes, in the presence of both chemiluminigenic probes, lucigenin and luminol. The possibility of measuring the phagocyte oxygenation activity of turkey monocytes represents a useful tool for the study of monocyte mediated host defence in the turkey.