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...

The pattern of shell occupation by the hermit crab Dardanus insignis (Saussure, 1858) from the subtropical region of southeastern coast of Brazil was investigated in the present study. The percentage of shell types that were occupied and the morphometric relationships between hermit crabs and occupied shells were analyzed from monthly collections conducted during two years (from January 1998 to...

this trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of different dietary factors that affect egg cholesterol concentration in laying hens of 56 to 70 weeks of age. three hundred and ninety six hy-line w36 laying hens were subjected to 11 experimental treatments, each treatment consisting of 4 replicates, each replicate of 9 hens. dietary treatments included the control, made up of corn plus soy me...

Egg shell quality and egg internal quality are of major importance to the egg industry worldwide. This review covers the formation of the hen’s egg and ways of measuring egg shell quality and egg internal quality. Egg shell quality may be measured as egg size, egg specific gravity and shell color, shell breaking strength, shell deformation (destructive or non-destructive), shell weight, percent...

rice bran (rb) is a major by-product, produced from the rice milling process. this study was conducted to evaluate the performance, egg quality, and blood biochemical parameters of 288 hy-line laying hens fed diets with rice bran and commercial microbial phytase natuphos®5000. the experiment was a 4×2 factorial one with four rb levels (0, 5, 10, and 15%) by two phytase levels (0 and 5000 ftu/kg...

Production performance and egg quality characteristics of pullets and spent layers were compared in this study. Forty birds, each from the flocks of pullets (24 weeks old) and spent layers (76 weeks old) were selected as experimental birds. The birds from each age group were divided into five replicates, each comprising of eight birds. All the experimental birds were fed a commercial layer rati...

The length-weight relationship and condition factor have been broadly investigated in snails to obtain the index of physical condition of populations and evaluate habitat quality. Herein, our goal was to describe the best predictors that explain Achatina fulica biometrical parameters and well being in a recently introduced population. From November 2001 to November 2002, monthly snail samples w...

Optimum laminate configuration for minimum weight of filament–wound laminated conical shells subject to buckling load constraint is investigated. In the case of a laminated conical shell the thickness and the ply orientation (the design variables) are functions of the shell coordinates, influencing both the buckling load and its weight. These effects complicate the optimization problem consider...

This study examined the effects of sub- and supercritical water pretreatments on the physicochemical properties of crab shell α-chitin and its enzymatic degradation to obtain N,N'-diacetylchitobiose (GlcNAc)2. Following sub- and supercritical water pretreatments, the protein in the crab shell was removed and the residue of crab shell contained α-chitin and CaCO3. Prolonged pretreatment led to α...

Two breeds of chickens were used to develop reference family and detect QTLs affecting egg quality traits: cocks of a native Polish breed Green-Legged Partidgenous (GlP) and hens of Rhode Island Red (RIR). During the first 100 days of the laying period, the GlP hens lay about 40 eggs weighting on average 50 g, whilst the RIR flock laid 83 eggs with a mean weight of 60 g. QTL analysis of egg qua...