• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.32 no.9
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• pp.1407-1413
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• 2019

Objective: This experiment aimed to investigate the effect of different sources and inclusion levels of dietary fat on productive performance and egg quality in laying hens raised under hot environmental conditions. Methods: A total of 480 Hy-Line Brown laying hens at 31 wk of age were randomly allotted to 1 of 5 experimental diets. The control diet contained 2,800 kcal/kg nitrogen-corrected apparent metabolizable energy with no fat addition. Four additional diets were prepared by adding 2.0% or 4.0% of animal fat (AF) or soybean oil (SO). Energy and nutrient concentrations were consistent among all diets. Diets were fed to hens for 4 weeks. Average daily room temperature and humidity were $26.7^{\circ}C{\pm}1.52^{\circ}C$ and $77.4%{\pm}4.50%$. The heat stress index was approximately 76, indicating that hens were raised under heat stress conditions. Results: Final body weight (BW) was greater (p<0.05) for hens fed diets containing 2.0% or 4.0% AF than for those fed the control diet or diets containing 2.0% or 4.0% SO. The BW gain and feed intake were greater (p<0.05) for hens fed diets containing additional AF or SO than those fed the control diet. Eggshell thickness was the greatest (p<0.05) for hens fed the control diet, but the least (p<0.05) for hens fed diets containing 4.0% SO. Egg yolk color was the greatest (p<0.05) for hens fed the control diet, but the least (p<0.05) for hens fed diets containing 4.0% SO. Conclusion: Inclusion of supplemental fat (AF and SO) in diets exhibits preventative effects on BW loss for hens raised under hot environmental conditions when energy and nutrient concentrations in diets were maintained. The effects were greater for AF than for SO. However, inclusion of supplemental fat in diets decreases eggshell thickness and egg yolk yellowness, possibly due to a reduction in Ca absorption and intake of egg yolk colorants.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.161-168
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• 2021

The present study investigated production traits, including body weight, egg production, egg weight, and egg quality in Korean indigenous parent stocks. Parent stocks produced from a nine-combination association from five pure line strains (C, D, F, K, and Y) were used. The body weight analyses results showed that the CY combination had the highest body weight (1,604.9 g) and the DK combination had the lowest (1,424.4 g). The average age at first egg of the nine combinations was 118.6 days; however, that of the YD combination was 111.6 days, making it the fastest growing combination, whereas the DK combination was the slowest, at 126 days. Hen-day egg production was 74% or more for the CF, CK, and DK combinations. The DK combination hens showed excellent persistence in egg laying. Hen-housed egg production exhibited results similar to those of hen-day egg production. Egg weight was significantly higher in the DK combination than in the other combinations and was observed to increase from 20 (43.9 g) to 40 (58.1 g) weeks. The egg quality analyses results showed that the combinations based on the F and K strains had a bright eggshell color, with relatively high egg weights. Eggshell strength and thickness were the highest in the DK combination (3.8 kg/cm², 0.38 mm). In summary, the CF and DK combinations showed excellent egg production ability and egg quality, while the YC, YD, and YK combinations with the Y strain as the paternal strain exhibited poor performance.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.815-823
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• 2014

Green tea has been known to show beneficial effects on alleviating stress. The present study was conducted to determine the effects of dietary green tea on quality of eggs, during storage, laid by laying hens treated with corticosterone in order to mimic the current practice of the egg market. Hens were fed for 2 weeks one of three diets containing green tea at 0.0, 0.4 or 1.0%. Each dietary group was divided into two subgroups receiving corticosterone at 0 or 30 mg/kg for 1 week. Eggs, laid at 5-7 days following the initiation of corticosterone treatment, were stored at $10^{\circ}C$ for 1 or 5 weeks and then analyzed for egg quality. After 1 week of storage, egg weight was significantly increased by green tea (p<0.025) but decreased by corticosterone (p<0.0001), but no interaction was observed between both. Corticosterone decreased shell color (p<0.0001) but green tea significantly decreased shell strength (p<0.006). Yolk color, albumen height and Haugh unit were not affected by both treatments. After 5 weeks of storage, corticosterone resulted in reduced egg weight (p<0.01) and eggshell color (p<0.001) and increased shell strength, which were not attenuated by green tea. Taken together, the results of the current study show that dietary corticosterone reduces egg quality during storage, which are attenuated in part by dietary green tea.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.125-131
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• 2012

The study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation of Macsumsuk and herb resources on the egg performance and quality in Korean native crossbred chickens. A total of three hundred sixty improved Korean native crossbred chickens in primary laying period were randomly allocated to four treatments (30 birds/treatment ${\times}$ 3 replications) for eight weeks. Dietary treatments included CON (basal diets), T1 (basal diets + 0.3% Macsumsuk), T2 (basal diets + 0.3% herb resources) and T3 (basal diets + 0.3% Macsumsuk + 0.3% herb resources). No significant differences were found for feed intake, egg weight and average egg production (P>0.05), however, cracked egg rate was higher in CON than in T1-T3, especially T3 was the lowest (P<0.05). The crude fat content of whole eggs, CON (11.20%) was higher (P<0.05) than the experimental treatments (9.67%-10.01%). Haugh unit, yolk color, eggshell thickness, and eggshell breaking strength tended to be higher in T1 and T2, but there were no significant differences (P>0.05). However, the experimental treatments were significantly higher than CON (P<0.05) for eggshell breaking strength, and T3 (14.91 mg/g) contained lower (P<0.05) cholesterol in egg yolk than other treatments. For fatty acid composition in egg yolk, CON group showed higher saturated fatty acid contents than the experimental treatments, but T1 (67.00%), T2 (66.78%) and T3 (66.82%) were higher than CON for unsaturated fatty acids (P<0.05). In conclusion, supplementating Macsumsuk and herb resources together in diets of Korean native crossbred chickens could decrease egg yolk cholesterol and improve egg quality.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.63-71
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• 2018

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of age of laying hens on egg internal and external qualities. A total of 8,300 eggs were randomly collected from 15 grading & packaging (GP) centers, and 50 eggs per farm during April to May in 2015. Age of laying hens ranged from 18 to 65 weeks of age and they were classified into 5 age groups (18~25, 26~35, 36~45, 46~55, and 56~65 weeks). Egg weight increased, but the Haugh unit decreased as the age of laying hens increased. Yolk color was higher in eggs laid from 25~35 weeks of laying hens compared with that of 18~25-weeks-old chickens. The incidence of dirty eggs was highest (P<0.05) in 18~25 week group and remained constant after 26 weeks. Among eggshell defects, speckled and pimpled eggs increased as the age of laying hens increased. The incidence of calcium deposits and misshapen eggs was highest during 18~25 weeks of age and remained constant after 26 weeks. The percentage of total eggshell cracks increased as the age of laying hens increased. Among eggshell cracks, star- and hair-like cracks were frequently noted. The percentage of meat spot was higher than that of blood spot and their incidence was highest among the 56~65 week group. Age of laying hens significantly increased egg weight, incidence of pimpled or speckled eggs, star- or hair-like cracks, and meat spot. On the other hand, a significant negative interaction between age of laying hens and the Haugh unit was noted. In conclusion, our study revealed that the age of laying hens affected internal and external egg qualities.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.145-150
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• 2010

This study was conducted to evaluate effects of dietary Agariemycetes on egg quality and fecal noxious gas concentration in laying hens. A total of two hundred forty laying hens were randomly allocated to four treatments with five replicates of twelve chicks per pen. The experiment lasted 42 days with a 7-day adjustment period. Dietary treatments were as follows: 1) CON (basal diet), 2) A1 (basal diet + Agariemycetes 0.1%), 3) A3 (basal diet + Agariemycetes 0.3%) and 4) A5 (basal diet + Agariemycetes 0.5%). There was no significant difference in egg production and egg weight between CON and Agariemycetes treatments. During the second week of the experiment, eggshell breaking strength was higher in A3 and A5 treatments than that in CON treatment (P<0.05). Besides, eggshell breaking strength in P5 treatment was higher when compared with that in CON treatment (P<0.05) in the sixth week. During the second week of the experiment, eggshell thickness was higher in Agariemycetes treatments than CON treatment (P<0.05). Also, A5 treatment was higher than other treatments in the fourth week of the experiment (P<0.05). At the end of the second week, yolk color unit in A5 treatment was lower compared with CON treatment (P<0.05). During the fourth week of the experiment, CON treatment was higher than A3 treatment (P<0.05). During the second week of the experiment, Haugh unit in A3 treatment was greater than that in CON treatment (P<0.05). At the end of six weeks, Haugh unit in CON treatment was lower than other treatments (P<0.05). Fecal ammonia and hydrogen sulfide were increased in Agariemycetes treatments when compared with CON treatment (P<0.05). Compared with CON and A5 treatments, fecal mercaptans was higher than in other treatments in first of the experiment (P<0.05). In conclusion, this study indicated that the addition of Agariemycetes in the diet improved the egg quality and decreased the feacal noxious gas concentration in laying hens.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.183-190
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• 2008

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of feeding diets supplemented with ${\beta}-glucan$ products on the performance, small intestinal microflora and immune response in laying hens. The ${\beta}-glucan$ products used in the experiment were $BetaPolo^{(R)}$ ; soluble ${\beta}-glucan$ of microbial cell wall origin, $HiGlu^{(R)}$ ; microbial cell wall origin, $OGlu^{(R)}$ ; oat origin, $BGlu^{(R)}$ ; barley origin. A total of 720 Hy-Line Brown laying hens of 40wks old were divided into 5 dietary treatments : T1 ; Control( C), T2 ; $BetaPolo^{(R)}$, T3 ; $HiGlu^{(R)}$, T4 ; $OGlu^{(R)}$, T5 ; $BGlu^{(R)}$. Each treatment was replicated 4 times with 36 birds/replicate housed in 2 bird cages, and arranged according to completely randomized block design. Feeding trial lasted 40ds under 16 h lighting regimens. There were significant differences among treatments in hen-house egg production feed intake and feed conversion. HiGlu treatment was significantly higher than OGlu treatments in hen-house egg production. ${\beta}-glucan$ supplemented treatments were lower than the control in feed intake and feed conversion ratio. All ${\beta}-glucan$ supplemented treatments were significantly higher than the control in eggshell strength. Eggshell color and Haugh unit tended to be lower in the supplemented group than the control. IgY concentration was not significantly affected by treatments. At $5^{th}$ week of experiment, however, IgY concentration tended to increase in the supplemented groups. Among the leucocytes parameters, WBC, heterophil, lymphocytes, monocyte and eosinophil concentration were lower in the supplemented groups than those of the control. Among erythrocytes, HCT(hematocrit) and MCV(mean corpuscular volume) were significantly affected by treatment. MCV of supplemented groups were higher than that of the control. Immunoglobulin concentrations in the birds were not significantly different among treatments. However, IgA concentration tended to be low in the supplemented groups than the control. The cfu of small intestinal microflora were not significantly different among treatments, but that of Cl. perfringens tended to be lower than the control. The result of this experiment indicateted that feeding ${\beta}-glucan$ to laying hens improve feed conversion ratio and eggshell strength. Also intestinal microflora and immune responses are modified.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.260-265
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to investigate the dietary effects of persimmon peel (PP) and PP ethanol extract (PPE) on egg production, egg quality, and liver lipids in the late stage of egg production in laying hens. One hundred and twenty 50-wk-old Hy-Line Brown layers (n = 120) were fed different diets. Four replicate groups of 6 hens each were randomly assigned to 5 dietary treatments. The 5 dietary treatments were as follows: i) CON, basal diet; ii) PP 0.15, CON+0.15% PP (0.035% tannin); iii) PP 0.5, CON +0.5% PP (0.117% tannin); iv) PPE 0.075, CON+0.075% PPE (0.03% tannin); and v) PPE 0.25, CON+0.25% PPE (0.11% tannin). The total tannin concentration of PPE was higher (p<0.05) than that of PP. Egg production in the PP 0.5 group was higher than in the other groups. Egg production and mass of hens in the PPE 0.25 group showed a greater decrease than that in the other groups (p<0.05). Eggshell color in the PP 0.15, PP 0.5, and PPE 0.075 groups was lighter than that of the control group (p<0.05). The Haugh unit for the groups that were fed PP and PPE were significantly higher than that in the other groups after 7 d of storage (p<0.05). Therefore, PP seems an effective feed additive for improving the production performance and egg quality in late stage laying hens.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.438-448
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• 2015

Objectives: This study was performed to examine the effects of storage time and temperature and their interaction on the hygienic quality parameters of shell eggs. Methods: Eggs from 40-week-old Hy-Line Brown hens were sampled immediately after being laid and subjected to storage periods of four weeks at a refrigerated temperature ($4-5^{\circ}C$) or room temperature ($13.0-19.7^{\circ}C$). Interior/exterior qualities were examined every one week. Results: Weight loss was 2.4-3.1%. The initial specific gravity of the eggs was maintained until one week at both temperatures. Air cell size exceeded 4 mm when stored for one week at room temperature, and two weeks at refrigerated temperature. Albumen index and Haugh unit were significantly decreased at both temperatures after one week (p<0.001). Rapidly increased pH of the albumen with one week of storage was observed, regardless of temperature (p<0.001). Extension of the storage for up to four weeks at room temperature resulted in remarkable deterioration of eggshell quality and instrumental color as redness (a). Air cell size, albumen and yolk indices, Haugh unit, pH of albumen and yolk were found to be influenced by storage time and temperature (p<0.001). Interaction effects between storage time and temperature were also significant for air cell size, pH of albumen and yolk (p<0.001). Conclusion: The results suggest that air cell size and pH of albumen and yolk were important parameters influenced by storage time and temperature in shell eggs. Storage time was more influential for air cell size, and temperature for the pH of yolk. Both variables almost equally influenced the pH of albumen.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.537-546
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• 2008

The experiment was conducted to determine the effect of the mixed herbal medicine for the substitution of antibiotics on the performance of laying hens. Day old hyline 1,500 layer chicks were randomly assigned to 4 treatments. Control were 600 and three each treatment was 300. Eggs were collected at every weeks for measuring egg production and week 26, 27, 28 for chemical analyses. Chemical analyses were done for fatty acid profile of egg yolks, amino acid, antibiotics residue in eggs(collect eggs after supplying OTC 21ppm/bird/day to control for four day at 26, 27, 28) during the laying period($19{\sim}77wk$). On $0{\sim}4$ week, T-3 showed higher feed intake than those fed the other diets and on $5{\sim}13$ week, T-2 showed highest feed intake among treatments. After birds were moved ($14{\sim}18$ wk) CT-3 showed highest, but for overall rearing period, there was not significantly different among treatments. In conclusion the mixed herbal medicine did not tended to influence palatability to rearing birds. Egg quality(egg yolk color, haugh unit, eggshell breaking strength) showed no difference among treatments. Ratio of unsaturated fatty acid (mg/100g)/saturated fatty acid (mg/100g) was not difference among treatments, but linolenic acid and docosahexaenoic acid(DHA) of the mixed herbal medicine treatments showed higher then control. The antibiotics residue of CT, T treatments egg was not detected and control was not detected or below allowance. In conclusion the mixed herbal medicine can be possible to feed laying hen without antibiotics.