Welfare problems, such as hunger, frustration, aggression, and abnormal sexual behavior, are commonly found in broiler breeder production. To prevent or reduce these welfare problems, it has been suggested to provide stimulating enriched environments. We review the effect of the different types of environmental enrichment for broiler breeders, which have been described in the scientific literat...

Two studies were conducted to determine whether Campylobacter jejuni could rapidly spread and reside in the internal organs of adult broiler breeder hens. In Study 1, university-housed broiler breeders at 22 wk of age were obtained and placed in individual cages. Each hen was intravaginally inoculated weekly from 23 to 32 wk of age with a characterized strain of C. jejuni. At wk 23, 27, and 32,...

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of genotype (meat-type or egg-type) on the AME digestibility of selected ingredients. The practice of using only one value for apparent metabolizable energy (AME) of feed ingredients for all classes of poultry has been questioned. The ability to convert nutrients to the final products depends on a variety of factors, such as age, sex, geneti...

Genetic diversity at the MHC and non-MHC loci was investigated in three commercial broiler chicken pure lines. The MHC class II and IV loci were evaluated in Southern hybridizations and molecular genotypes based on RFLP were interpreted from pedigreed families. Four MHC class II and eight class IV genotypes were identified in the broiler lines, and their frequencies differed among the lines. Li...

a 3 × 3 factorial experiment with three levels of fennel extract (fe) (0, 50, and 100 mg/kg of diet) and three levels of added vitamin d3 (vit d3) (0, 3500 and 4200 iu/kg of diet), was carried out to evaluate reproductive performanceand immune response of post molted broiler breeders(76-84 weeks).broiler breeders were weighed at 10 week after molting (74 weeks) then randomly distributed into 36...

Avian infectious bronchitis (IB), caused by avian infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), is a worldwide endemic disease of chickens that affects all branches of the poultry industry. Multiple geno/serotypes occur, and lowvaccine cross-protection results from the highly divergent IBV types. In view of the lack of consistent data on the economic losses caused by IB and the poor protection resulting f...

Ad libitum feeding causes excessive follicular development and is associated with extensive metabolic changes in broiler-breeder hens. Restricting feed intake reduces excessive follicular development, but the mechanisms mediating this response are unknown. In the present study, the effects of feeding on follicular development in immature broiler-breeder hens were examined. There was an increase...

Before any significant progress can be made in altering textural characteristics of a meat product, the basic profile of the meat and the possible alterations in that profile due to processing procedures must be known. A number of papers have been published addressing ways to optimize the textural characteristics of broiler breast meat. Changes in broiler processing procedures and processing ti...

It has been demonstrated that horizontal and vertical transmission of Salmonella and Campylobacter can occur in broiler breeder flocks. The mechanism of this transmission is still unclear. Previously negative broiler breeder flocks have been reported to become positive with Salmonella, Campylobacter, or both after the introduction of "spike" roosters at 45 wk of age. To determine whether the ro...