It is necessary to distinguish new and old gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar (L.), egg masses when conducting gypsy moth population surveys. Egg masses within reach from the ground are touched to determine if they contain unhatched eggs and thus are considered new. The following 2 methods are used for egg masses not within reach: (1) visual discrimination between new and old egg masses or (2) by cal...

BACKGROUND In a murine model of allergic inflammation, Bifidobacterium breve M-16V has been shown to reduce IL-4 and IgE by inducing IL-10 and IFN-γ. However, it remains unknown whether this strain has the same effect in humans with allergic disease. OBJECTIVE To determine the effects of Bifidobacterium breve M-16V combined with a prebiotic oligosaccharide mixture (synbiotic) on atopic marker...

A study was conducted to evaluate skeletal quality and eggshell parameters of molted hens at the end of the second laying cycle. Sixty Single Comb White Leghorn hens were used for this study. There were 2 controls and 4 molting treatments: full-fed control 1 (82 wk old; FF1), full-fed control 2 (122 wk old; FF2), feed withdrawal (FW), 100% alfalfa (A100), 90% alfalfa/10% layer ration (A90), and...

Conventional cage housing for laying hens evolved as a cost-effective egg production system. Complying with mandated hen housing alternatives would raise marginal production costs and require sizable capital investment. California data indicate that shifts from conventional cages to barn housing would likely cause farm-level cost increases of about 40% per dozen. The US data on production costs...

The study was conducted to determine the effect of organic acids supplementation on body weight changes, feed intake, feed efficiency, egg production, egg weight and egg quality in laying hens at age between 67 and 74 weeks. A total of 48 Shaver 579 laying hens of 67 weeks age were allotted into 4 groups, each containing 12 hens. The hens were fed basal diet (17% CP and 2800 kcal ME/kg diet) su...

this experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of using rice bran, combo multi-enzyme and probiotic (protexin) in diet on performance, egg traits, biochemical parameters and blood cells of commercial laying hens. this experiment carried out using 384 hi-line (w36) laying hens in a completely randomized design as factorial (2×2×2) arrangement with two levels of rice bran (0 and 10%), two ...

this experiment was designed to evaluate the effects of different sources of calcium at different rates and cholecalciferol(vitamin d3) on the performance and egg quality of hy-line w-36 laying hens. in this study a total of 648 hens were managed in a completely randomized design using a factorial arrangement of 3 × 3 × 2 treatments, with three calcium sources (oyster shell, os; ground limeston...

The aim of the study was to evaluate effects on exterior and interior egg quality and sensory characteristics of eggs from hens fed diets with admixtures of 3.5 or 7.0% of mussel meal or 20% wheat-distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS). The mussel meal diets followed organic standards, whereas the DDGS diet was formulated for hens in conventional production. Standard diets, one organic an...

a study was conducted to evaluate the effects of two laying systems (floor versus cage) on egg production, egg quality, and microbial safety. one hundred and eighty 42 wk old laying hens were separated into two groups of 90 hens each, and housed in laying cages and a floor laying system. eggs from the hens were collected for 2 weeks, and hen-day egg production, egg quality (whole egg, albumen, ...

A total of 150 Hy-Line W-36 laying hens at 38 week of age were randomly assigned into 5 dietary treatments and 3 replicates each with 10 birds. Hens were fed diets including: low-selenium diet without selenium supplementation (basal diet), basal diet plus 0.3 ppm Na-selenite, or basal diet plus 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 ppm Sel-Plex. The hens performance, eggshell quality and egg selenium content were e...