• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.19-62
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• 1982

1. The primary purpose of this study was to analyse the current status of layer operations in Korea related to management practices and input and output relationship in egg production by surveying 150 egg producers throughout the country. Based on this primary information, this study attempted to illustrate a model layer farming budget. 2. The average size of the layer operations included in this survey was 7,969 hens per farm during the period from September 1, 1980 to August 31, 1981. However, about 80% of the producers started the layer farming with smaller scales than 3,000 layers and less funds than 10 million won during the later half of 1960s and the early half of 1970s. About 72% of the farmers were graduates from high school or college. These egg producers listed that lack of funds and poor production and management skills are the most important problems in the operation. 3. The farmers used to purchase baby chicks from the well-known hatcheries and commercial mixed feeds on one or two months' credit. While the eggs were sold to wholesalers and/or assemblers. Few of the producers market their products directly or cooperatively through the industry organization.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.23 no.7
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• pp.946-951
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• 2010

The objective of this research was to evaluate the effects of dietary supplementation of blood meal (BM) as a source of histidine, and magnesium oxide (MgO) as a catalyst of carnosine synthetase, on carnosine (L-Car) content in the chicken breast muscle (CBM), laying performance, and egg quality of spent old hens. Four hundred eighty laying hens (Hy-Line$^{(R)}$ Brown), 95wk old, were allotted randomly into five replicates of six dietary treatments: T1; 100% basal diet, T2; 100% basal diet+MgO, T3; 97.5% basal diet+2.5% BM, T4; 97.5% basal diet+2.5% BM+MgO, T5; 95% basal diet+5% BM, T6; 95% basal diet+5% BM+MgO. Magnesium oxide was added at 0.3% of diets. The layers were fed experimental diets for 5wk. There were no significant differences in the weekly L-Car content in CBM among all treatments during the total experimental period, but some of the contrast comparisions showed higher L-Car in CBM of T6. The L-Car contents linearly decreased (p<0.01 or p<0.05) as the layers got older except in T4 (p>0.05). There were significant differences in egg weight (p<0.01) and soft and broken egg ratio (p<0.05). The control (T1) was highest in egg weight and T6 was lowest in soft and broken egg ratio. Among the parameters of egg quality, there were significant differences in eggshell strength (p<0.01) and egg yolk color (p<0.05). Magnesium oxide supplementation increased the eggshell strength and BM tended to decrease egg yolk color. Eggshell color, eggshell thickness, and Haugh unit were not influenced by BM and MgO. In conclusion, BM and MgO did not significantly influence the L-Car in CBM of spent layers. The L-Car content rapidly decreased as the layers became senescent. Eggshell strength was increased by MgO supplementation.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.14 no.10
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• pp.1460-1464
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• 2001

This study compared the lipid metabolism of white Leghorn layers between the growing and the laying periods. The study was conducted on thirty layers in the growing period (14 weeks old) and in the initial laying period (36 weeks old; 14 weeks from the onset of laying). Results indicated that all plasma lipid traits were significantly different (p<0.05) between the two periods. The estrogen concentration in the laying period was about 3 fold that in the growing period. Triacylglycerol (TG) concentration in the laying period was about 12 fold that in the growing period. The phospholipids, cholesterol, glycerol and non esterified fatty acid (NEFA) in the laying period were also higher than those in the growing period (p<0.05). Lipogenic enzyme activities in the laying period were higher than in the growing period (p<0.05). High-density lipoprotein (HDL) was the largest lipoprotein portion in growing layers. In laying hens, the major lipoprotein portion was very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL). It was also shown that protein is the primary component of HDL and TG is the largest portion of VLDL in both periods. In laying hens, VLDL contained more TG than that in growing layers (p<0.05). The VLDL particle size in laying hens was larger than that in growing layers (p<0.05). This study indicates that the lipid metabolism traits of a layer in the laying period were different from those in the growing period. The lipogenesis related traits in the laying period were markedly greater than in the growing period.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.7
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• pp.980-985
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• 2000

Influences of Japanese green tea powder (GTP) supplementation to commercial diet on laying performance and egg quality were studied by using 60 laying hens. The experimental diet with or without 0.6% GTP was given ad libitum to the birds during the period from 6 to 71 weeks of age. The birds started egg production from 21 wk of age regardless GTP feeding. Body weight, feed intake, egg weight tended to decrease with GTP supplementation, while egg production rate tended to increase. Haugh unit score was significantly increased with GTP, which accompanied with the increased albumen height. These were observed almost throughout the laying period over 50 wk. Gel proportion in thick albumen was decreased as storage time is prolonged, then higher values of the gel proportion were recorded in the eggs from GTP group. Thick albumen of the eggs from GTP-fed layers had more carbohydrate than that from control layers. All these indicate physical stability of thick albumen in the eggs from GTP group. Thiobarbituric acid content of egg yolk tended to remain lower in the eggs from GTP group during 5-10 days of storage at room temperature. Levels of egg yolk cholesterol and yolk lipid were significantly reduced by GTP feeding. There were no significant differences in eggshell weight, shell thickness and shell strength between the two groups. Thyroid gland and liver from hens slaughtered at 71 wk of age did not differ in weight irrespective of GTP feeding. The present results suggest that GTP could modify components of edible part of egg, leading to the characteristics favourable to consumers such as high durability of thick albumen and less cholesterol in yolk, without altering general performance of the layers throughout this year round experiment.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.8
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• pp.1190-1196
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• 2006

This experiment was carried out to investigate the effects of Korean, Japanese and Chinese green tea on laying performance and egg quality in hens. A total of 168 "Tetran Brown" hens aged 40 weeks were assigned to 7 treatments in a completely randomized design. Each treatment had 4 replicates accommodating 6 layers per replication. The seven dietary treatments were: 1) control diet with no green tea added, 2) diet containing 1.0% Korean green tea (1.0% KGT), 3) diet containing 2.0% Korean green tea (2.0% KGT), 4) diet containing 1.0% Japanese green tea (1.0% JGT), 5) diet containing 2.0% Japanese green tea (2.0% JGT), 6) diet containing 1.0% Chinese green tea (1.0% CGT), and 7) diet containing 2.0% Chinese green tea (2.0% CGT). Egg production rate of the layers fed diets containing 1.0 or 2.0% green tea powders were significantly increased compared to that of the control (p<0.05). The egg weight of layers was significantly reduced in layers fed 1.0% CGT (p<0.05). The feed intake was significantly decreased in KGT and CGT groups at 2.0% inclusion levels (p<0.05). The egg shell thickness and shape index of JGT treatment was significantly lower than that of the control (p<0.05). There were no significant differences in albumen index, yolk index and Haugh unit of eggs for layers fed diets containing green tea powders regardless of origin (p>0.05). Green tea feeding to layers tended to reduce the overall cholesterol content of egg yolk. Particularly, 1.0 or 2.0% CGT significantly depressed the total cholesterol content of egg yolk (p<0.05). In conclusion, incorporation of 1.0 or 2.0% Korean, Japanese and Chinese green tea into layer diets regardless of origin had favorable effects on laying performance and egg quality profiles. Among the three green tea sources, the Chinese green tea powder had the highest reducing effect on cholesterol content in egg yolk.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.518-522
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• 2004

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of different levels of dried leftover food (DLF) in the diet on feed utilization and egg-laying performance of hens. One hundred sixty-eight, 18 week old Tetra brown commercial layers, were assigned to 7 treatments in a completely randomized design. Each treatment has four replications per treatment with six animals per replication. All the experimental animals were fed diets for 7 weeks. The treatments included 1) control group without DLF, 2) diet with 10% DLF, 3) diet with 20% DLF, 4) diet with 30% DLF, 5) 10% higher protein level of diet with 10% DLF, 6) 20% higher protein level of diet with 20% DLF and 7) 30% higher protein level of diet with 30% DLF. Average daily feed intake (ADFI) tended to be improved with DLF feeding. ADFI of group fed diets with 20% was significantly higher than that of control (p<0.05). Feed conversions of DLFfed groups were higher than that of control. Egg production tended to be higher in groups fed diets with 10% DLF than control diet without significant differences (p>0.05). However, those of groups fed diets containing 20 and 30% DLF were lower than that of control. Supplementing protein source to DLF-containing diets improved egg production (p<0.05). Increasing level of DLF in the diet for layer decreased egg weight and egg mass compared to control without significant differences (p>0.05). Protein supplementation to DLF-containing diets increased egg mass without significant difference (p>0.05). The range of egg cholesterol concentration of DLF-fed groups was 11.94-14.10 mg/g while that of control group was 12.31 mg/g although there was no significant difference among treatments (p>0.05).

• Proceedings of the Korea Society of Poultry Science Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.103-104
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• 2004

This study was evaluated the dietary affect of ceramics on laying performance, intestinal microflora population, NH$_3$ and VFA gas emission from excreta and fatty acids composition of egg yolk in laying hens. A total of 180 layer at 34 weeks of age were fed the experimental diets containing 0.0 % (Control), 0.4 % and 0.8 % of ceramics powder for 6 weeks. It is concluded that 0.4 % ceramics powder supplementation in the 34 to 40 weeks laying hens diet, improves the laying performance and ratio of egg yolk n-6/n-3 fatty acids contents and decreasing emission of NH$_3$ and VFA gas from excreta.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.141-151
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• 2000

Over-grown seaweeds in Donghae(east sea of Korea peninsula) may impedes ocean environment, however, they can be a good nutrient resources for poultry feeds if they are utilized properly. In this study, seaweeds powder were tested for laying hens\` ration to investigate the effects on egg production rate, egg quality and calcium phosphorus excretion. One hundred 65wks-old brown layers were fed for 5 weeks alotted with seaweeds powder addition to experimental diet by 0(control), 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0%, respectively, and obtained following results; 1. Seaweeds proved a mid-protein low-energy feed resources with planty of K, Na, Ca, Mg, Sr and Fe. 2. Seaweeds addition by 0.5% and 1.0% improved egg production rate and egg-mass output markedly(p<0.05) than control. Seaweeds addition did not alter cholesterol level of yolk and yolk index, however egg shell thickness showed increasing trend by increasing seaweeds addition level. 3. Protein absorption and digestibility in seaweed addition treatments were significantly higher(p<0.05) than control group and protein contents of excreta in 0.5% and 1.0% treatments were reduced(p<0.05), which suggests effective protein metabolism for egg production. Increasing seaweeds addition reduces Ca and P contents in rectum and excreta, suggesting Ca and P utilization improvement in laying hens and lessening soil pollution. 4. In conclusion, seaweeds addition in layers' diet by 1.0% level improves egg-mass production and might be egg quality by increasing metabolism of protein, calcium and phosphorus.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.249-256
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• 2023

The purpose of this experiment was to determine the influence of providing laying hens with extra feed on egg production and egg quality parameters. A total of 480 laying hens (38-weeks old), were divided into five treatment groups (eight replicate cages/treatment and 12 layer/replicate) according to their starting body weight (1.98 ± 0.05 kg) in this four-week feeding trial. Five different feed allowances of the same diet (105, 110, 115, 120, and 125 g·day^-1·bird^-1) were assigned to layers. Daily inspections of remaining feed (around 0.1g) and layer mortality (0%) showed no harmful impact of supplying extra feed to layers. Providing 120 and 125 g of feed per day to layers resulted in the highest final body weight, large-egg ratio, and improved yolk color among all treatment groups. Layers receiving 125 g of feed daily had the highest egg weight, but the highest egg production ratio was observed in layers receiving 110 g of feed/day. The additional supply of feed did not have a negative impact on the productive performance or egg quality of the layers. The provision of 125 g feed per day led to an improvement of large-egg ratio, egg weight, and yolk color, but likely led to obesity of the layers, which manifested as an increase in body weight and a decline in the egg production ratio. We concluded that 110 grams of feed was the proper quantity after taking into consideration the significance of the health of the laying hen to the overall production performance.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.1769-1774
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• 2005

This experiment was carried out to evaluate the effects of feeding green tea powder on laying performance and egg quality in hens. A total 180 'Tetran Brown' laying hens aged 40 weeks were assigned to 6 treatments in a completely randomized design. Each treatment consisted of five replicates accommodating six layers per replication. The experimental diets were a negative control containing no green tea, a positive control diet containing antibiotics (0.05% chlortetracycline) and diets containing 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5% and 2.0% green tea powder. Egg production rate of layers fed the diets containing green tea powder did not differ significantly from that of the negative and positive controls (p>0.05). Egg weight was decreased significantly in the group fed the diet containing 0.5% green tea powder (p<0.05). Feed intake of layers was significantly higher for the diet containing 1.5% green tea powder compared to that of negative and positive control diets (p<0.05). The eggshell thickness reduced significantly in the layer group fed the diets containing green tea powder regardless of dietary levels (p<0.05). Green tea powder tended to reduce egg yolk cholesterol in this experiment. Particularly, dietary 2% level of green tea powder significantly suppressed the cholesterol contents of the egg yolk (p<0.05). Thiobarbituric acid value (TBA) of egg yolk was significantly reduced by green tea diets (p<0.05). The yellowness of egg yolk was increased in the layers fed the 2.0% green tea diet compared with that of control diet (p<0.005). The Linoleic and $\alpha$-linolenic acids tended to increase in the group fed diets containing 1.5% green tea powder even though there were no significant differences among treatments (p>0.05). The oleic and docosahexaenoic acid contents of the egg yolk were similar among treatments (p>0.05). Based on the results of the experiment, it is concluded that green tea powder inclusion in the diet for layers at 2.0% level can reduce the cholesterol content and TBA value of the egg yolk, implying its potential effect on egg quality parameters.