This experiment was conducted to determine the effect of using L-threonine and reducing dietary levels of crude protein (CP) on egg production criteria in layers. Three hundred of Hy-Line W36 laying hens were used in this experiment. This experiment consisted of three experimental treatments with five replications in each. Experimental treatments included 3 diets with different levels of CP whi...

The present study was carried out to determine the effects of fenugreek powder (FP) and extract (FE) on performance, egg quality, blood parameters and immune responses of laying hens. One-hundred and fifty Leghorn laying hens were used in a completely randomized design with five treatments and five replicates for eight weeks. Treatments were various levels of FP and FE including zero (control; ...

One of the key features of insect societies is the division of labor in reproduction between one or a few fertile individuals and many sterile nestmates that function as helpers. The behavioral and physiological mechanisms regulating reproduction in ant societies are still not very well understood, especially in species in which all colony members are reproductively totipotent. In the ponerine ...

Egg-laying behavior in Caenorhabditis elegans is activated by signaling through the G-protein G(rho)q and inhibited by signaling through a second G-protein, G(rho)o. Activation of egg laying depends on the serotonergic hermaphrodite-specific neurons (HSNs), but the neurotransmitter(s) and cell(s) that signal to inhibit egg laying are not known. Mutants for G-protein signaling genes have well ch...

this study aimed to decrease the cholesterol content of egg yolk of laying hens through inclusion of barley malt rootlets in the diets. forty-two, 54-week-old, lohman laying hens were fed for a 12 weeks laying period on 3 iso-caloric and iso-nitrogenous diets contained 0 (control), 25.5 or 51.1g barley malt rootlets/kg. inclusion of barley malt rootlets at 25.5 or 51.1g/kg diet significantly de...

This experiment was conducted, during a seven-week period to investigate, the effects of using various levels of garlic cloves and turmeric rhizome powders, on laying hens’ performance, egg quality characteristics and cholesterol content in yolk. Two hundred and sixteen, 27-weeks old Novogen white laying hens were assigned randomly into nine treatments with eight replicates of three birds each....

In insect societies, chemical communication plays an important role in colony reproduction and individual social status. Many studies have indicated that cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) are the main chemical compounds encoding reproductive status. However, these studies have largely focused on queenless or monogynous species whose workers are capable of egg laying and have mainly explored the mec...

This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of different levels of dried aerial parts powderand extract of pennyroyal­ (Mentha pulegium) medicinal plant on performance, egg traits, blood biochemical and immunity parameters of laying hens. Two-hundred-fifty-two Hi-line (W36 strain) laying hens from 46 until 58 weeks of age were used in a completely randomized design in 7 treatments and...

Mounting evidence implicates ecdysteroids in queen-worker differentiation during the last larval instars of highly social insects. In the present study, we analyzed ecdysteroid titers in queen and worker larvae of the bumblebee Bombus terrestris from the second to the early fourth instar. B. terrestris is of particular interest because caste is already determined in the second instar, presumabl...