• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.23 no.8
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• pp.1049-1056
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• 2010

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary glutamine (Gln) on the productive performance and egg quality of laying hens. A total of four hundred Lingnan Yellow laying hens aged 34 weeks were randomly assigned into four groups (100 laying hens/group), and fed, respectively, with diets supplemented with 0% (control group), 0.2%, 0.4%, and 0.8% Gln during the 6-week feeding period. The results were as follows. First, the productivity of laying hens fed with 0.8% Gln in diet was significantly increased (p<0.05); however, the egg quality (egg weight, yolk weight, shell weight, egg shape index, shell thickness, shell density, shell breaking strength, yolk color, yolk index, and Haugh unit) was not affected compared with that of the control group (p>0.05). Second, luteinizing hormone (LH) (p<0.01), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) (p<0.01), triiodothyronine ($T_3$), and tetraiodothyronine ($T_4$) contents (p<0.05) in blood of laying hens fed with 0.8% Gln in diets were also significantly improved, and greater improvement in the duodenum and oviduct structure was observed in that treatment group. This study indicated for the first time that diets with 0.8% Gln were able to increase the productive performance of laying hens through stimulating hormone secretion and better development of both the duodenum and oviduct structure in laying hens.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.119-126
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• 2021

Objective: This study aims to evaluate the effects of dietary supplement of rubber seed oil on production performance, egg quality, and yolk fatty acid composition in laying hens during a 16-week feeding trial period. Methods: Forty-eight 25-week-old laying hens of Hy-Line Brown were randomly divided into three groups. Each group comprised four replicates and each replicate had four birds. Rubber seed oil was incorporated into a corn-soybean meal basal diet by 3.5% (group I), 4.5% (group II), or 0 (control group) and equivalent nutrition was supplied for the test groups and the control group. The performance related values were determined using standard or well established methods. Results: No significant difference was found in the production performance, the egg quality, the composition of saturated fatty acids, and the content of cholesterol and monounsaturated fatty acids in the yolk within the three groups. Interestingly, both test groups achieved a significantly higher content of linoleic acid, α-linolenic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid, and docosahexaenoic acid and a significantly lower content of arachidonic acid (p<0.05) compared with the control group. With the increased level of dietary rubber seed oil, there was an increasing trend in the content of n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), n-3 PUFA and total PUFA, but a declining trend in the n-6/n-3 ratio. Conclusion: These results demonstrate that the rubber seed oil supplemented diet effectively improved the total PUFA content in eggs without impairing the layers' production performance and the egg quality.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.236-246
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• 2022

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of dietary pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata) seed meal (PSM) on laying hens' performance, quality, fatty acids, cholesterol, antioxidant compounds and shelf life of eggs. Methods: Eighty Tetra SL laying hens, 50-week-old, were randomly divided into two equal groups, having 10 replicates with 4 birds in each. The control (CON) treatment was fed with basal diet, while experimental treatment was fed a diet with 9% PSM, for a 6 week period. Results: Dietary PSM significantly decreased average daily feed intake (p<0.05), with no significant effect on other performance parameters. The PSM, enriched the eggs with polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially α linolenic acid (0.33 vs 0.21 g/100 g) and linoleic acid (20.65 vs 18.37 g/100 g), whereas it reduced the amount of arachidonic acid with 3.91% and n-6/n-3 ratio in PSM eggs compared with CON. The inclusion of 9% PSM significantly (p<0.05) diminished the cholesterol concentration in yolk with 11.31% and in egg with 10.38%, in respect to the CON samples. The significantly (p<0.05) higher concentration of polyphenols and antioxidant compounds, determined in PSM eggs, proved to be effective on shelf life of eggs preserved at refrigerator (5℃) and room temperature (21℃) for 28 days, by delaying the lipid oxidation and protein denaturation. This effect was reflected in significantly (p<0.05) higher Haugh unit in eggs stored 28 days at 21℃ and lower albumen pH values for the overall storage time, both at 5℃ and 21℃, proving the antioxidant effect of pumpkin. Conclusion: Dietary PSM supplementation was significantly effective on average daily feed intake and egg quality by increasing some fatty acids while lowering the cholesterol concentration. Also, PSM proved to be effective improving shelf life of eggs for 28 days storage time.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.1006-1013
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• 2015

Heat-stress remains a costly issue for animal production, especially for poultry as they lack sweat glands, and alleviating heat-stress is necessary for ensuring animal production in hot environment. A high ${\gamma}$-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-producer Lactobacillus strain was used to investigate the effect of dietary GABA-producer on laying performance and egg quality in heat-stressed Hy-line brown hens. Hy-Line brown hens (n = 1,164) at 280 days of age were randomly divided into 4 groups based on the amount of freeze-dried GABA-producer added to the basal diet as follows: i) 0 mg/kg, ii) 25 mg/kg, iii) 50 mg/kg, and iv) 100 mg/kg. All hens were subjected to heat-stress treatment through maintaining the temperature and the relative humidity at $28.83{\pm}3.85^{\circ}C$ and 37% to 53.9%, respectively. During the experiment, laying rate, egg weight and feed intake of hens were recorded daily. At the 30th and 60th day after the start of the experiment, biochemical parameters, enzyme activity and immune activity in serum were measured. Egg production, average egg weight, average daily feed intake, feed conversion ratio and percentage of speckled egg, soft shell egg and misshaped egg were significantly improved (p<0.05) by the increasing supplementation of the dietary GABA-producer. Shape index, eggshell thickness, strength and weight were increased linearly with increasing GABA-producer supplementation. The level of calcium, phosphorus, glucose, total protein and albumin in serum of the hens fed GABA-producing strain supplemented diet was significantly higher (p<0.05) than that of the hens fed the basal diet, whereas cholesterol level was decreased. Compared with the basal diet, GABA-producer strain supplementation increased serum level of glutathione peroxidase (p = 0.009) and superoxide dismutase. In conclusion, GABA-producer played an important role in alleviating heat-stress, the isolated GABA-producer strain might be a potential natural and safe probiotic to use to improve laying performance and egg quality in heat-stressed hens.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.141-151
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• 2000

Over-grown seaweeds in Donghae(east sea of Korea peninsula) may impedes ocean environment, however, they can be a good nutrient resources for poultry feeds if they are utilized properly. In this study, seaweeds powder were tested for laying hens\` ration to investigate the effects on egg production rate, egg quality and calcium phosphorus excretion. One hundred 65wks-old brown layers were fed for 5 weeks alotted with seaweeds powder addition to experimental diet by 0(control), 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0%, respectively, and obtained following results; 1. Seaweeds proved a mid-protein low-energy feed resources with planty of K, Na, Ca, Mg, Sr and Fe. 2. Seaweeds addition by 0.5% and 1.0% improved egg production rate and egg-mass output markedly(p<0.05) than control. Seaweeds addition did not alter cholesterol level of yolk and yolk index, however egg shell thickness showed increasing trend by increasing seaweeds addition level. 3. Protein absorption and digestibility in seaweed addition treatments were significantly higher(p<0.05) than control group and protein contents of excreta in 0.5% and 1.0% treatments were reduced(p<0.05), which suggests effective protein metabolism for egg production. Increasing seaweeds addition reduces Ca and P contents in rectum and excreta, suggesting Ca and P utilization improvement in laying hens and lessening soil pollution. 4. In conclusion, seaweeds addition in layers' diet by 1.0% level improves egg-mass production and might be egg quality by increasing metabolism of protein, calcium and phosphorus.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.10
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• pp.1654-1659
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• 2018

Objective: This study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation with fermented and non-fermented brown algae by-products on the laying performance, egg quality, relative organ weight, and blood profile of laying hens. Methods: Hy-Line Brown chickens (n = 180; 70-week-old) were randomly divided into 5 groups with 4 replicates per group (3 hens per cage, 4 cages per replicate), and fed with 5 experimental diets, namely the basal control diet (CON) or the control diet supplemented with 0.5% brown seaweed (BS), 0.5% seaweed fusiforme (SF), 0.5% fermented brown seaweed (FBS), or 0.5% fermented seaweed fusiforme (FSF), for 4 weeks. Results: Egg production rate and egg mass were greater in the BS group than in the other groups (p<0.05), and the SF and FSF groups had greater egg production than the control group (p<0.05). Egg weight was higher in the BS group than in the other groups (p<0.05). There were no differences in eggshell color, egg yolk color, eggshell strength, or eggshell thickness among the groups. There was no difference in Haugh units among the treatment groups, except for the FSF group, which had a significantly lower value (p<0.05). The non-fermented groups had greater relative organ weights, particularly the liver and cecum, than the other groups (p<0.05). Regarding blood profile, the supplemented-diet groups had higher albumin levels than the control group (p<0.05). The FBS group had higher total cholesterol and triglyceride levels than the other groups (p<0.05). The BS and FBS groups had higher glutamic pyruvic transaminase levels than the other groups (p<0.05). Conclusion: This study demonstrated that dietary brown algae supplementation can improve egg-laying performance; however, supplementation with fermented seaweeds had no positive effect on the egg-laying performance of hens.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.8
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• pp.1190-1196
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• 2006

This experiment was carried out to investigate the effects of Korean, Japanese and Chinese green tea on laying performance and egg quality in hens. A total of 168 "Tetran Brown" hens aged 40 weeks were assigned to 7 treatments in a completely randomized design. Each treatment had 4 replicates accommodating 6 layers per replication. The seven dietary treatments were: 1) control diet with no green tea added, 2) diet containing 1.0% Korean green tea (1.0% KGT), 3) diet containing 2.0% Korean green tea (2.0% KGT), 4) diet containing 1.0% Japanese green tea (1.0% JGT), 5) diet containing 2.0% Japanese green tea (2.0% JGT), 6) diet containing 1.0% Chinese green tea (1.0% CGT), and 7) diet containing 2.0% Chinese green tea (2.0% CGT). Egg production rate of the layers fed diets containing 1.0 or 2.0% green tea powders were significantly increased compared to that of the control (p<0.05). The egg weight of layers was significantly reduced in layers fed 1.0% CGT (p<0.05). The feed intake was significantly decreased in KGT and CGT groups at 2.0% inclusion levels (p<0.05). The egg shell thickness and shape index of JGT treatment was significantly lower than that of the control (p<0.05). There were no significant differences in albumen index, yolk index and Haugh unit of eggs for layers fed diets containing green tea powders regardless of origin (p>0.05). Green tea feeding to layers tended to reduce the overall cholesterol content of egg yolk. Particularly, 1.0 or 2.0% CGT significantly depressed the total cholesterol content of egg yolk (p<0.05). In conclusion, incorporation of 1.0 or 2.0% Korean, Japanese and Chinese green tea into layer diets regardless of origin had favorable effects on laying performance and egg quality profiles. Among the three green tea sources, the Chinese green tea powder had the highest reducing effect on cholesterol content in egg yolk.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.537-546
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• 2008

The experiment was conducted to determine the effect of the mixed herbal medicine for the substitution of antibiotics on the performance of laying hens. Day old hyline 1,500 layer chicks were randomly assigned to 4 treatments. Control were 600 and three each treatment was 300. Eggs were collected at every weeks for measuring egg production and week 26, 27, 28 for chemical analyses. Chemical analyses were done for fatty acid profile of egg yolks, amino acid, antibiotics residue in eggs(collect eggs after supplying OTC 21ppm/bird/day to control for four day at 26, 27, 28) during the laying period($19{\sim}77wk$). On $0{\sim}4$ week, T-3 showed higher feed intake than those fed the other diets and on $5{\sim}13$ week, T-2 showed highest feed intake among treatments. After birds were moved ($14{\sim}18$ wk) CT-3 showed highest, but for overall rearing period, there was not significantly different among treatments. In conclusion the mixed herbal medicine did not tended to influence palatability to rearing birds. Egg quality(egg yolk color, haugh unit, eggshell breaking strength) showed no difference among treatments. Ratio of unsaturated fatty acid (mg/100g)/saturated fatty acid (mg/100g) was not difference among treatments, but linolenic acid and docosahexaenoic acid(DHA) of the mixed herbal medicine treatments showed higher then control. The antibiotics residue of CT, T treatments egg was not detected and control was not detected or below allowance. In conclusion the mixed herbal medicine can be possible to feed laying hen without antibiotics.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 1997

This experiment was conducted with total 960 brown layers, consisted of 8 treatment to investigate the effects of dietary chromium as chromium picolinate on egg production, egg quality, nutrient utilizability, serum traits and mortality in brown layers. Layers were fed diets with two levels of dietary protein (14% and 16%) and supplemented with 0, 200, 400, 800 ppb/kg of chromium as chromium picolinate, respectively. The highest egg production, egg weight and egg mass were found in 800 ppb chromium picolinate supplementation group with high protein level (16%) (p < 0.05). Although there was no significant difference, layers receiving 400 ppb of chromium picolinate with high protein (16%) represented the lowest broken eggs. The utilization of energy, dry matter and crude protein of 400 ppb chromium picolinate group with low protein level (14%) were significantly higher than those of control or other chromium picolinate group (p < 0.05). 400 ppb chromium picolinate with low protein level (14%) showed the lowest serum glucose concentration. But serum glucose concentrations in all treatments showed no significant differences. Present date revealed that the lowest serum cholesterol concentration of layers was found at 400 ppb chromium picolinate group with high protein level (16%) (p < 0.05). Crude protein content in yolk was significantly higher in eggs of layers received 800 ppb chromium picolinate and the lowest in eggs from layers received 400 ppb chromium picolinate among chromium picolinate levels (p < 0.05). Mortality was remarkably decreased by chromium picolinate supplementation and the lowest mortality value was found in layres receiving 800 ppb chromium picolinate with high protein level.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.97-103
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• 2016

This study aimed of effects of replacing maize with rice or brown rice on laying performance, egg quality, and apparent fecal digestibility of nutrient in Hy-Line Brown laying hens. A total of 200, 25-week old Hy-Line Brown laying hens were randomly assigned to one of 5 treatments, each of which was replicated 4 times. Four experimental diets that were formulated two different grains (brown rice or rice) with two inclusion levels of (15 and 30%) as a replacement of maize. The experimental period was 8 weeks. During the experiment, hens were provided with feed and water ad libitum and were exposed to a 16:8=L:D lighting schedule. There were no differences in feed intake, egg weight, and egg mass during the 8 weeks of the feeding trial among groups. However, hen-day egg production was greater (P<0.05) for Brown rice treatment groups than that for basal and rice treatment groups. In addition, the supplementation of brown rice or rice did not have an effect on eggshell strength, eggshell thickness, and HU during of the feeding trial (Table 4). However, egg yolk color was less (P<0.05) for basal treatment groups than that for among treatment group. ATTD of dry matter (DM) and crude fat were greater (P<0.05) for brown rice 15 treatment than for rice 30 treatment. Crude protein (CP) was greater (P<0.05) for brown rice 15 treatment than for basal treatment. In conclusion, brown rice or rice grains is a good alternative energy feedstuff and can be used in laying hens, totally replacing maize, without any negative effect on the laying performance, egg quality, and nutrient digestibility.