• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.32 no.11
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• pp.1715-1724
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• 2019

Objective: As laying hens become aged, laying performance and egg quality are generally impaired. One of the practical methods to rejuvenate production and egg quality of aged laying hens with decreasing productivity is a forced molting. However, the changes in intestinal microbiota after forced molting of aged hens are not clearly known. The aim of the present study was to analyze the changes in excreta bacterial communities after forced molting of aged laying hens. Methods: A total of one hundred 66-wk-old Hy-Line Brown laying hens were induced to molt by a 2-d water removal and an 11-d fasting until egg production completely ceased. The excreta samples of 16 hens with similar body weight were collected before and immediately after molting. Excreta bacterial communities were analyzed by high-throughput sequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA genes. Results: Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, and Proteobacteria were the three major bacterial phyla in pre-molting and immediate post-molting hens, accounting for more than 98.0%. Lactobacillus genus had relatively high abundance in both group, but decreased by molting (62.3% in premolting and 24.9% in post-molting hens). Moreover, pathogenic bacteria such as Enterococcus cecorum and Escherichia coli were more abundant in immediate post-molting hens than in pre-molting hens. Forced molting influenced the alpha diversity, with higher Chao1 (p = 0.012), phylogenetic diversity whole tree (p = 0.014), observed operational taxonomic unit indices (p = 0.006), and Simpson indices (p<0.001), which indicated that forced molting increased excreta bacterial richness of aged laying hens. Conclusion: This study improves the current knowledge of bacterial community alterations in the excreta by forced molting in aged laying hens, which can provide increasing opportunity to develop novel dietary and management skills for improving the gastrointestinal health of aged laying hens after molting.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.17-24
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• 2006

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of forced molting and egg storage time on the various egg qualities. A total of 240 ISA Brown layers (60 wk of age) were employed as the unmolted treatment (Control). Two hundred and forty ISA Brown layers, molted at the age of 55 wk, were used as a forced molting treatment (T1), and the same number and strain of layers, molted at the age of 70 wk, were also used as the another forced molting treatment (T2). A total of 120 eggs were sampled from each treatment, and divided into six sets, 20 eggs per set. These six sets were stored for 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15 days at $18^{\circ}C$ temperature, respectively. Eggs from T1 were collected from laying hens at the age of 68 wk, which started molting at 60 wk of age and achieved 50% egg production at 63 wk of age. Eggs from T2 were collected from hens at 82 wk of age, which started molting at 70 wk of age and achieved 50% egg production at 78 wk of age. The eggshell strength of T1 was significantly (p<0.05) higher than the Control and T2, and the storing periods did not affect the eggshell strength at all. Neither the forced molting nor the storing periods did not exert any consistent effect on the egg weight, eggshell thickness, eggshell color and egg yolk color. The albumin heights of T1 and T2 were significantly (p<0.05) lower than the Control, and it was remarkably reduced gradually as the storage periods increased in all three treatments. The Haugh unit showed very similar trends as the albumin height, indicating that both albumin height and Haugh unit were very much related to each other. In conclusion, the forced molting improves the eggshell strength, but decreases the albumin height and Haugh unit. The storage of eggs also decreases the albumin height and Haugh unit regardless of molting.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.341-347
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• 1992

Eggs used in this study were obtained from Saudi Arabian Baladi laying hens which were divided into four experimental groups and subjected to the following treatments: Commercial laying ration (17% CP, 3.6% Ca and 0.343%, available P) fed ad libitum as a control (C); Conventional force molting, feed removal for 10 days followed by 18 days full-feed of cracked corn (F); 15 days ad libitum intake of the control ration supplemented, to initiate forced-molt, with 0.35% aluminum as the sulfate (ALS) or the chloride (ALC). The hens were in production for 52 weeks and 17 months of age at the start of the trial and the post-treatment period lasted 36 weeks. During the treatment period F and AL treated groups had similar egg and shell weight, egg surface area, shell thickness and shell weight per unit of surface area but significantly (p<0.05) lower than the control. F had significantly (p<0.05) the highest and the control the lowest Haugh unit values whereas AL fed groups had significantly (p<0.05) lower meat spot incidence compared with the control which tended to have higher value than F group. ALC and F had significantly (p<0.05) the lowest yolk color grade whereas ALC had significantly (p<0.05) lower egg index than ALS and the control. During the post-treatment period the control had significantly (p<0.05) the highest egg index and blood spots incidence and ALS the lowest shell diensity compared with other groups. ALS had significantly (p<0.05) lower shell weight than ALC and the control whereas F and AL treated hens had significantly (p<0.05) the highest Haugh unit values and yolk color grades respectively. F had significantly (p<0.05) lower meat spots incidence than ALC and the control. The same results were observed for ALS compared with the control.