• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.1752-1760
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• 2005

In this experiment, the effects of cage density (CD) and probiotic supplementation (PS) on laying performance, metabolic profile, and egg quality in peak-producing hens were evaluated. After blocking according to the cage location, Lohman layers (n = 180, 46 wks of age) were allocated randomly to two levels of CD (540 vs. 360 $cm^2$/hen) and three levels of PS (0, 0.15, and 0.30%). Probiotic contained Enterococcus faecium culture (10${\times}$10$^9$ cfu/g). Egg production (EP) and feed consumption (FC) were measured daily; egg weight (EW) was measured bi-weekly; BW was measured before and after the experiment; and blood samples were obtained at the end of the experiment. The data were analyzed using two-way ANOVA. Increasing CD decreased FC (125.0 vs. 120.8 g/d, p<0.0001) and FCR (1.93 vs. 1.87, p<0.0001) and did not alter EP, EW, and BW. Increasing level of PS linearly decreased FC (p<0.02) and FCR (p<0.006). Averages were 123.9, 123.2, and 121.6 g/d for FC and 1.91, 1.92, and 1.86 for FCR in hens supplemented with 0, 0.15, and 0.30% probiotic, respectively. Hens placed in high-density cages had greater serum corticosterone concentration than hens placed in normal-density cages (12.8 vs. 11.3 $\mu$g/dL, p<0.04); CD did not affect concentrations of other metabolites. Increasing level of PS linearly increased serum glucose, albumin, and creatine concentrations and quadratically increased total protein, globulin, Ca, and P concentrations. Average concentrations (mg/dL) were 260, 297, and 305 for glucose; 6.28, 8.09, and 7.58 for total protein; 1.98, 2.48, and 2.38 for albumin; 4.30, 5.62, and 5.19 for globulin; 0.40, 0.52, and 0.54 for creatine; 16.0, 16.5, and 16.3 for Ca; and 6.27, 8.14, and 7.17 for P in hens supplemented with 0, 0.15, and 0.30% probiotic, respectively. There was no effect of CD on egg quality. Increasing level of PS linearly improved yolk color (YC) and quadratically increased albumen index (AI) and Haugh unit (HU). The mean values were 9.67, 9.75, and 10.58 for YC; 8.94, 6.93, and 8.72% for AI; and 85.6, 74.9, and 82.9 for HU for hens supplemented with 0, 0.15, and 0.30% probiotic, respectively. There was also CD by PS effect on FC, EP, and serum glucose, total protein, albumin, globulin, creatine, Ca and P concentrations. In conclusion, increased CD partially depressed laying performance and caused stress. Probiotic supplementation improved laying performance and metabolic profile. It also partially alleviated the adverse effects of stress resulting from increased caging density.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.9
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• pp.1310-1319
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• 2005

This experiment was conducted to determine the effects of cage density (CD) and humate supplementation (HS) on laying performance, metabolic profile, and egg quality during the peak production period in hens. Lohman layers (n = 180, 46 wks of age) were blocked according to the location of cages and then allocated randomly to two levels of CD (4 or 6 hens per cage or 540 vs. 360 $cm^2$/hen) and three levels of HS (0, 0.15, and 0.30%). Egg production (EP) and feed consumption (FC) were measured daily; egg weight was measured bi-weekly; and BW was measured before and after the experiment. Blood and additional egg samples were obtained at the end of the experiment for determination of metabolic profile and egg quality. The data were analyzed using two-way ANOVA as repeated measures. Except for FC, CD did not affect laying performance parameters. Hens placed in high-density cages had lower FC than hens placed in normal-density cages. Increasing HS level linearly increased FC, EP, and feed conversion ratio (FCR). There was a CD by HS interaction effect on FC and EP. Hens placed in high-density cages had greater serum glucose, total protein, albumin, globulin, Ca, and P concentrations and tended to have greater serum corticosterone concentration than hens placed in normaldensity cages. Increasing HS level linearly increased serum glucose, total protein, albumin, globulin, creatine, and Ca concentrations and linearly decreased serum triglyceride and very low-density lipoprotein concentrations. There was a CD by HS interaction effect on serum glucose and albumin concentrations. There were no alterations in egg quality parameters in response to increasing CD. Albumen index and Haugh unit decreased linearly and other egg quality parameters did not change as HS level increased. In conclusion, increased caging density adversely affected metabolic profile, despite insignificantly deteriorating laying performance. Moreover, benefits from humate supplementation seem to be more noteworthy for hens housed in stressing conditions than for hens housed in standard conditions.

• 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.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.829-836
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• 1998

Immunogenicity of Escherichia coli pilus and LT were evaluated in 20-week-old hens. The antigens were consisted of K88, K99, 987p pilus and heat labile toxin purified from enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli. The durations of antibody titers in sera and egg yolk were investigated by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA). After first inoculation, antibody titers in sera reached at peak 2 weeks postinoculation. However, peak antibody titers in egg yolk were detected 4 weeks postinoculation, indicating that transfer of immunoglobulin from serum to egg yolk took about two weeks period. Although there were slight reduction in titers, the specific antibodies in egg yolk lasted up to 3 months. Immune responses against monovalent and combined antigens were showed as almost same patterns. The transfer rate of antibodies from serum to egg yolk didn't show any significant differences among three pilus antigens in this study. Considering the concentrations of antigens in each inoculated group, multivalent antigens containing heat labile toxin of E coli were found to be more immunogenic than monovalent antigen in producing specific antibodies. From this experiment, it was demonstrated that multivalent antigens containing three pilus and heat labile toxin could be a promising candidate for the production of egg yolk antibodies for prophylactic use in preventing swine colibacillosis in future.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.227-233
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• 2000

Preset study was carried out to evaluate characteristics of lactic acid producing bacteria(LAB) in hen's cecum as probiotics value. Distribution of LAB in intestinal tracts was investigated using 5∼25 weeks - old hens. So, 12 strains to LAB with different morphology were isolated purely. Acid tolerance of LAB tested at pH 1, 2, 3, and 4, and bile resistant also tested at 0, 0.3% and 0.5% bile salt concentration. Growth pattern of LAB observed to 60h. All strains of cecal LAB couldn't survive at pH 1, and decreased linearly survival colony after incubation at pH 2 although some strains could survive for 2h. Most of LAB maintained constant number at pH 3 and 4. The bacterial action could increase linearly at 0% bile salt concentration in all of tested strains. However, only one strain could multiply at 0.3% bile salt, others were influenced by bile salt. That tendency was similar at 0.5% bile salt. Growth was peaked at 12 to 18 h after innoculation. After peak, the decreasing pattern of colony was different to strains which some strains decreased rapidly or maintained for long time. The LAB of hen's cecum was similar to intolerance acidity, but different to resistant to bile salt and growth pattern by strain. So, we choose three strains which have probiocs value, and identified as Lactobacillus amylovorus LLA7, Lactobacillus crispatus LLA9 and Lactobacillus vaginalis LLA11.