• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.524-530
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• 2012

Laying hens were fed commercial diets added with supplemented fat (SFAT) at 0.6, 1.2, and 1.8% in order to study the long term dietary effects - on - their productive performance from 22 to 75 wk of age. Five hundred and seventy six Single Comb White Leghorn hens were assigned to one of the four dietary treatments. The experimental phase consisted of three periods of 18 wk each. The final body weight and gain of hens fed on diets with SFAT at 1.2% and 1.8% were lower (p<0.05) than those hens given no SFAT. The SFAT at the 1.2% and 1.8% levels improved egg production rate, egg weight and mass, as well as FCR. Mortality and feed consumption were not affected by dietary SFAT. Administration of a diet with SFAT significantly decreased the cracked-broken egg ratio (p<0.01). The beneficial effects of SFAT on egg production performance were particularly more pronounced at intermediate and later ages. Hence, SFAT by period interactions were significant for all traits studied except feed intake. Hens fed SFAT deposited significantly higher abdominal fat than those on the no-SFAT diet. As a result, SFAT at 1.2% and 1.8% inclusion levels provided benefits in terms of efficient table egg production.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.991-997
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• 2019

This study was conducted to investigate the laying period performance of two crossbred Korean native chicken (KNC) grand parent stock (GPS) layer during 20 to 40 weeks. A total of 351 20-week-old KNC GPS were allocated in a completely randomized design to give 4 birds per each cage. The chickens were fed commercial diets [i.e., week 20 - 32, crude protein (CP) 18.0% and metabolizable energy (ME) 2,850 kcal/kg; week 32 - 40, CP 17.0% and ME 2,800 kcal/kg)] and fresh water during the whole experiment period ad libitum basis. Body weight, age of sexual maturity, egg weight, hen-day egg production (HDP) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were measured during the experiment period (week 20 - 40). The results show no significant difference in the Body weight, age of sexual maturity, egg weight, and hen-day egg production (HDP) except for egg weight. 1B had a higher egg weight on week 36 only. We expect that the reason why most factors showed no significant difference is the lack of nutrients caused by limited feeding which follows the standard feeding system for the grand-parent stock. These results provide basic information for laying data in 2-way crossbred Korean native chickens.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.884-891
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• 2006

The effect of dietary vitamin E supplementation on immune responses was studied in breeder chickens during the maturing period. In experiment 1, 17-week old female birds were fed corn-soybean meal based diets supplemented with either 0, 40, 80, 120, or 160 mg vitamin E (all-rac-${\alpha}$-tocopherol acetate)/kg diet for 19 weeks. In experiment 2, 23-week old male birds were fed the corn-soybean meal based diet supplemented with either 0, 20, 40, 80 or 160 mg vitamin E/kg diet for 8 weeks. The chickens were evaluated for growth performance, antibody titer to sheep red blood cell (SRBC), Newcastle disease virus (NDV), infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) and infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), and skin response to phytohemagglutinin-P (PHA-P). The results showed that supplemental vitamin E improved body weigh gain of laying pullets during peak-laying period but had no significant effect on growth performance of cockerels. For cockerels, addition of 20 mg vitamin E/kg diet significantly enhanced (p<0.05) immune response to SRBC compared to those added with 0, 80 and 160 mg vitamin E/kg diet; addition of 20 mg vitamin E/kg diet had higher (p<0.01) antibody titer to IBDV than those added with 40-160 mg vitamin E/kg diet. No significant effects on immune response were observed in laying pullets fed supplemental vitamin E. The findings suggest that moderate supplementation of vitamin E may enhance immune responses to selective antigens in cockerels but excessive vitamin E may depress specific immune response.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.48-54
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• 2006

Roxarsone (3-nitro-4-hydroxyphenylarsonic acid) has been used as feed additives in poultry industries to improve production and control coccidiosis. The effect of high dietary levels of Roxarsone (ROX) on the performance and function of internal organs and the kinetics of recovery as well as its after-effects were examined in laying hens. The inclusion rates of ROX were 0, 100, 200, 300, and 400 mg per kg feed. Inclusion up to 200 mg did not show any adverse effects (p>0.05), whereas in the 300 and 400 mg groups, significant effects, particularly in the latter, were observed for three weeks after ROX addition (p<0.05). Recovery of the physical appearance occurred soon after ROX addition was withdrawn. Recovery of performance and internal organs, however, appeared to be dependent on the amount of residual ROX in the body; as the amount of ROX decreased, the toxic effect of ROX also decreased. In the third week after the withdrawal of ROX, complete recovery was observed in the lower dosage groups (100 or 200 mg groups) (p>0.05), whereas in the higher dosage groups (300 or 400 mg groups), recovery took at least five weeks; when complete recovery was observed in egg production and in liver weight (p>0.05). On the other hand, ROX might have damaged the liver and other tissues. The recovery of liver weight was probably due to accumulation of fatty particles rather than repair. It appeared, therefore, there were little after-effects of ROX on the hen's physical appearance, but some internal organs were probably damaged.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.22-28
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• 2004

Livestock industry requires alternatives of antibiotics to prevent environmental pollution and to maintain public health. We herein report on an effective method to reduce ammonia from livestock manure, and confirmed environmentally-friendly livestock production by adding three types of yeast probiotics, Pichia farinosa SKM-1, Pichia anomala SKM-T, and Galactomyces geotrichum SJM-59, into the feed stuff, separately and/or mixed, and these three types of yeasts were administered to the Hy-line brown layers for 8 weeks. Compared with control, the laying performance, the egg quality, and the number of intestinal lactic acid producing bacteria of the treated group were improved and/or increased significantly. Pichia anomala SKM-T potently reduced ammonia production from poultry manure, and the other strains were also able to reduce the ammonia from it. The optimum condition for the reduction of ammonia with Pichia farinosa SKM-1, Pichia anomala SKM-T, and Galactomyces geotrichum SJM-59 was obtained by using the augmented centroid-simplex design. The ratio of optimum condition was Pichia farinosa SKM-1:Pichia anomala SKM-T:Galactomyces geotrichum SJM-59=0.295:0.209:0.080, and the estimate was -123.36 (p=0.0l38). An ability to reduce the ammonia production from livestock manure was maintained at $30^{\circ}C$ for 15 weeks.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.584-590
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• 2023

Objective: This research aimed to explore the changes in the observed abdominal sagging index (ASI) and reproductive performance of Roman male and female geese during the breeding period. Methods: The 339 six-month-old breeding geese (109 male; 230 female) were used in this study, in which five male and five female geese were slaughtered on a monthly basis to record the ASI. Results: The short diameter of the testes of the male goose when the female goose lays eggs and in the second, third, and fourth months was significantly wider than in the fifth months (19.0, 20.8, 21.4, and 19.6 vs 12.7 and 14.0 mm/bird; p = 0.0105). On the other hand, the testicular weight of the male goose in the second and third months after the female goose lays eggs was significantly higher than that in the second and fifth months after laying (0.33% and 0.37% vs 0.11% and 0.19%; p = 0.0212). During the exploring period, the length and weight of the fallopian tube, the weight of the ovary, the number of follicles in 2 to 3 cm, the number of follicles in 3 to 4 cm, the fallopian tube weight in the carcass weight percentage, and the ovary weight in the carcass weight percentage all demonstrated a significant curve response. Further, female ASI was positively correlated with reproductive tract length (r = 0.815; p<0.05) and egg production per female (r = 0.790; p<0.05). Conclusion: The ASI classification method is more objective and easy to distinguish. This scoring method has a high correlation with the number of eggs laid by each goose and the length of the reproductive tract, inferring that the goose observation could take advantage of ASI during egg-laying and can predict the reproductive system development during the laying period and determine when the breeding goose begins to lay eggs.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 1986

The subject of this study was to obtain some genetic information for developing superior layer chickens. Heterosis and combining ability effects were estimated with 5,759 progenies of full diallel crosses of 6 strains in White Leghorn. Fertility, hatchability, brooder-house viability, rearing- house viability, laying-house viability, age at 1st egg laying, body weight at 1st egg laying, average egg weight, hen-day egg production, hen-housed egg production, and feed conversion were investigated and analyzed into heterosis effect, general combining ability, specific combining ability and reciprocal effect by Grilling's model I. The results obtained were summarized as follows; 1. The general performance of each traits was 94.76% in fertility, 74.05% in hatchability, 97.47% in brooder-house viability, 99.72% in rearing-house viability, 93.81% in laying-house viability, 150 day in the age at 1st egg laying, 1,505g in the body weight at 1st egg laying, 60.08g in average egg weight, 77.11% in hen-day egg production, 269.8 eggs in hen-housed egg Production, and 2.44 in feed conversion. 2. The heterosis effects were estimated to -0.66%, 9.58%, 0.26%, 1.83%, -3.87%, 3.63%, 0.96%, 4.23%, 6.4%, and -0.8%, in fertility, hatchability, brooder-house viability, laying-house viability, the age at 1st egg laying, the body weight at 1st egg laying, average egg weight, hen-day egg Production, hen-housed egg production and feed conversion, respectively. 3. The results obtained from analysis of combining ability were as follows ; 1) Estimates of general combining ability, specific combining ability and reciprocal effects were not high in fertility. It was considered that fertility was mainly affected by environmental factors. In the hatchability, the general combining ability was more important than specific combining ability and reciprocal effects, and the superior strains were K and V which the additive genetic effects were very high. 2) In the brooder-house viability and laying-house viability, specific combining ability and reciprocal effects appeared to be important and the combinations of K${\times}$A and A${\times}$K were very superior. 3) In the feed conversion and average egg weight, general combining ability was more important compared with specific combining ability and reciprocal effects. On the basis of combining ability the superior strains were F, K and B in feed conversion, F and B in the average egg weight. 4) General combining ability, specific combining ability and reciprocal effects were important in the age at 1st egg laying and the combination of V ${\times}$F, F${\times}$K and B${\times}$F were very useful on the basis of these effects. In the body weight at 1st egg laying, general combining ability was more important than specific combining ability and reciprocal effects, relatively. The K, F and E strains were recommended to develop the light strain in the body weight at 1st egg laying. 5) General combining ability, specific combining ability and reciprocal effects were important in the hen-day egg production and hen-housed egg production. The combinations of F${\times}$K, A${\times}$K, and K${\times}$A were proper for developing these traits. 4. In general, high general combining ability effects were estimated for hatchability, body weight at 1st egg laying, average egg weight, hen-day egg production, hen-housed egg production, and feed conversion and high specific combining ability effects for brooder-house viability, laying house viability, age at 1st egg laying, hen-day egg production and hen-housed egg production, and high reciprocal effects for the age at 1st egg laying.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.63-68
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• 2010

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation of fermented apple pomace (FAP) and cinnamon on laying performance, egg quality and blood characteristics in laying hens. A total of two hundred 57-wk-old Hy-Line laying hens were divided into five groups with 4 replicates of 10 birds each; control, 0.1% probiotics, 1.0% fermented apple pomace 1.0%, 0.1% cinnamon and 1.0% fermented apple pomace with 1.0% cinnamon. Chickens fed the diets containing 1.0% of fermented apple pomace showed higher egg production than the chickens fed the other diets. No synergic effect on laying performance was found when fermented apple pomace and cinnamon were added to the diets in laying hens. There was no significant major differences in egg quality and serum blood biochemical profiles. These results suggest the possibility that fermentation of apple pomace could be used as the alternative of antibiotic growth promoters.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.8
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• pp.1179-1189
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• 2006

This experiment was designed to examine the effects of supplemental vitamin D on laying performance, metabolic profile and egg quality of hens fed diets containing different fat sources and levels. Lohman strains (n = 480) were assigned to one of 10 diets: basal diet (BD), BD plus 2.5 and 5.0% sunflower oil (SO) or tallow (T) at vitamin D provided $1{\times}$ and $3{\times}$ of the current recommendation. The experiment lasted from week 30 to 44 of age. Each diet was tested in 12 replicate cages of 4 hens. Production, metabolism, and egg quality data were subjected to three-way ANOVA. Both fats decreased feed intake (FI) as compared to BD. Increasing SO and T levels linearly decreased and quadratically increased FI, respectively. The dietary factors did not affect egg production (EP) and egg weight. Vitamin D supplementation increased and decreased EP when diets contained SO and T, respectively. Feed conversion efficiency (FCE) for hens fed SO was lower than for hens fed T. However, increasing T level improved FCE, whereas increasing SO level worsened FCR. Vitamin D supplementation increased serum vitamin D and glucose concentrations. Vitamin D supplementation also caused a decrease and an increase in serum vitamin D concentration when diets contained SO and T, respectively. Serum glucose concentration for hens fed SO was lower than hens fed T. Increasing fat level linearly increased serum triglyceride and VLDL concentrations, regardless of the fat type. Increasing SO level linearly decreased serum cholesterol concentration. Vitamin D supplementation did not alter lipid metabolites. The dietary factors did not affect serum total protein, Ca, and P concentrations. As compared with BD, feeding SO decreased dry tibia and ash weights more than feeding T. Vitamin D supplementation tended to increase dry tibia weight and decrease tibia ash weight. Eggshell strength and thickness, yolk and albumen indexes, and Haugh unit were not responsive to the dietary factors. Eggshell strength quadratically increased with increasing T level. Yolk color for hens fed SO was lower than for hens fed T. The dietary factors did not affect most of yolk fatty acids. Increasing SO level quadratically decreased yolk $C_{18:2}$ concentration. Vitamin D supplementation increased and decreased yolk $C_{18:2}$ concentration when diets contained SO and T, respectively. In conclusion, increasing fat level improved laying performance without altering metabolic profile and egg quality. Vitamin D supplementation had minor alteration effects on laying performance, metabolic profile, and egg quality in response to fat feeding.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.896-907
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• 2024

Objective: The potential of aqueous extract of Christ's thorn jujube (Ziziphus spina-christi) leaves (SLAE) to reduce the negative impacts of heat stress on production performance and physiological traits was investigated in dual-purpose layers under subtropical farming. Methods: A total of 200, 25-week-old laying hens (Inshas strain) were randomly assigned to four dietary treatments including SLAE at 0, 2.5, 5.0, and 7.5 mL/kg, respectively. The average temperature-humidity index value was 26.69 during the experimental period. The SLAE contained saponin (0.045%), total flavonoid content of 17.9 mg of quercetin equivalent/100 g and overall antioxidant capacity concentration of 17.9 mg of ascorbic acid equivalent/100 g. Results: The maximum final body weight (BW), BW gain, egg weight, number, and mass occurred at the level of SLAE7.5 inclusion. The egg quality was significantly higher in SLAE groups than in control, and overall, SLAE7.5 had the most favorable influence at 28 and 32 weeks. Liver and kidney function, as well as lipids profile, improved significantly by SLAE inclusion; the lowest concentrations of these parameters were in SLAE7.5 hens. Treatment with SLAE7.5 increased total antioxidant capacity and endogenous antioxidant enzymes compared to control, whereas no effect on superoxide dismutase was noticed. Conclusion: The addition of SLAE at 7.5 mL/kg diet improved egg laying performance and quality, metabolic profiles, and antioxidant status during hyperthermia conditions.