Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the genes for interleukin-4, -13 and interferon-gamma, and 21 additional SNPs which previously had been significantly associated with immune traits in the chicken, were genotyped in white and brown layer hens and analyzed for their association with helminth burden following natural infections. A nucleotide substitution located upstream of the promoter o...

s of papers 67 283 Physiology and behavior of the hen during an induced molt. A. B. Webster*, The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia. Feed deprivation is used commercially to induce molt because it is the easiest method to apply and produces the best results. Animal welfare concerns have made it important to evaluate the experience of hens undergoing feed deprivation. Birds of diverse speci...

The Swiss control programme for Salmonella Enteritidis began at the end of 1993. All efforts are focused on the elimination of infected parent and layer flocks and on the production of S. Enteritidis-free eggs. The new Zoonosis Order and more stringent import regulations help to identify S. Enteritidis-positive parent layer and layer flocks. Other measures, such as additional voluntary monitori...

background:avian intestinal spirochetosis (ais) is causedby spiral-shaped gram-negative brachyspira spp. in poultry. it isknown as a cause of diarrhea, low egg production, and increasedoccurrence of dirty eggs in layer hens. objectives: in this study,the presence of some brachyspira spp. was investigated in layinghens. methods: a total of 100 cloacal swab samples wereindividually collected from...

this study was conducted to determine the nutritional value of seaweed gracilariopsis persica and to evaluate its utilization in layer nutrition. metabolizable energy and chemical composition of seaweed were measured. 100 hy-line w-36 hens were allocated to five dietary groups with five treatment group (experimental diets containing zero, five, 10, 15 and 20 percent seaweed) and it lasted for 1...

Colibacillosis is one of an economically significant disease in the poultry industry, especially for meat breed chickens. Recently it has become a serious problem for layer especially when the birds start laying and also at the later stage of laying. In Japan, the productivity of field laying hens improved when the Δcrp avian colibacillosis live vaccine ("Gall N tect CBL") was used. The surviva...

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of caecectomy and source of dietary fibre and starch on excretion of amino acids by laying hens. In Expt 1, caecectomized hens excreted significantly higher levels of several amino acids than intact hens during a 24 h fasting period. These differences were greatest for threonine, proline and leucine. In Expt 2, caecectomized and intact hens...

Commercial laying hens are prone to injurious pecking (IP), a common multifactorial problem. A 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design assessed the effects of breed (Lohmann Brown Classic (L) or Hyline Brown (H)), beak treatment (infra-red treated (T) or not (NT)), and environment (extra enrichment (EE) or no extra enrichment (NE)) on mortality, behaviour, feather cover, and beak shape. Hens were allocated ...

A completely randomized design experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of feeding different levels (0, 2.5, 5.0, 10.0, 20.0%) of guar meal (GM) in laying hen diets over a 8-wk trial period. A total of 180 Hisex laying hens (25wk old) of similar body weight were randomly distributed among 5 treatments with 6 replicates with 6 hens each. Body weight, body weight gain, egg produced per hen...

Current and relevant heat and moisture production data for laying hens are necessary for sizing and operating ventilation systems for commercial layer housing. Different stocking densities are being adopted in cage layer facilities, but there is a lack of information concerning the potential impacts of these changes on environmental control. A study was conducted with 24 groups of 48 hens (39 t...