• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.628-632
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• 2008

Egg production traits are economically important both for egg-laying and broiler lines of chicken. In sheep, the Q249R mutation in BMPR-IB is associated with ovulation rate. The present study cloned a partial chicken BMPR-IB fragment which contained the corresponding ovine Q249R mutation, including partial exon 6 and exon 7 and full-length intron 6. Five nucleotide changes were identified by alignment of the fragment amplified from Jining Bairi and Zang chickens. Among these nucleotide substitutions, the C/T transition at the base position of 35 and the A/G transition at the base position of 287 were found to be highly polymorphic, and named as SNPs C35T and A287G, respectively. For the SNP C35T, 331 hens of a synthetic broiler line were genotyped by a PCR-SSCP approach and allele C was found to be dominant. For the SNP A287G, 604 birds from the synthetic broiler line, a commercial egg-laying line, as well as three Chinese indigenous chicken breeds were genotyped by a PCR-RFLP technique. The associations of these two SNPs with egg production traits in the broiler line were analyzed. The results indicated that both the C35T and the A287G SNPs were not associated with egg production at 33wks and from 33wks to 42 wks (p>0.1), whereas the SNP A287G was associated with egg production from 47 to 56 wks (p<0.05). The dominance genetic effects on this latter trait and on egg production from 33 to 42 wks were significant (p<0.05).

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.840-846
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• 2015

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of dietary corticosterone on egg quality. For 2 weeks hens received either control or experimental diet containing corticosterone at 30 mg/kg diet. Feed intake and egg production were monitored daily, and body weight measured weekly. Egg weights and egg quality were measured daily. Corticosterone treatment resulted in a remarkable increase in feed intake and sharp decrease in egg production compared with control (p<0.05) whereas body weight remained unchanged. Decreased albumen height, but no changes in egg weight, led to decreased Haugh unit (p<0.05). Corticosterone caused elevated eggshell thickness (p<0.05) without altering weight and strength, suggesting possible changes in shell structure. Yolk color and redness were increased by corticosterone (p<0.05) but lightness and yellowness were either not changed or inconsistent over the time period of measurements. Increased concentrations in plasma were also found for corticosterone, glucose, cholesterol, creatinine, uric acid, albumin, aspartate aminotransferase, creatine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase, total protein, and amylase (p<0.05), suggesting that corticosterone increased protein breakdown, renal dysfunctions and pancreatitis. Together, the current results imply that dietary corticosterone affects egg quality such as yolk colors and shell thickness, in addition to its effects on feed intake and egg production.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.213-220
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• 2002

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of feeding probiotics on the egg quality and excretal noxious gas in laying hens. One hundred forty four, 36 weeks old ISA brown commercial layer, were employed in a 28 d feeding trial with a 7 d adjustment period. Dietary treatments are 1) control(basal diet), 2) PB0.3(basal diet+0.3% probiotics), 2) PB0.6(basal diet+0.6% probiotics). For overall period, hen-day egg production, egg weight and egg shell breaking strength tended to increase (P>0.05) by dietary probiotic supplementation. Egg shell thickness was improved by supplementation of probiotics(linear effect, P$<$0.01). Diets PB0.3 and PB0.6 improved the yolk color compared to control diet(linear effect, P$<$0.02). As supplementation level of probiotics increased in the diets, egg yolk index tended to increase(linear effect, P$<$0.04). $NH_3$-N concentration in excreta fed PB0.6 diet was significantly (P$<$0.04) lower than either control or PB0.3 diet. In conclusion, supplementing probiotics to a Corn-SBM diet for laying hens increased egg shell thickness, yolk color and decreased egg yolk index, and decreased excretal $NH_3$-N concentration.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.303-309
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• 1990

In order to study the effect of diet supplemented with 0.015% (150ppm) of L-tryptophan on the performance of broiler breeder, the performance of parent stock of 1768 breeder(Hubbard) fed on the diet supplemented with L tryptophan was compared with those of 1105 breeders fed on the basal (control) diet Henday egg and settable egg production, fertility, hatchability and number of quality chicks per settable egg were recorded during 133 days(34－52 week－old) of experimental feeding period. Also during 28 days of after experimental feeding period(53－56 week－old) the henday egg and settable egg production were recorded. The henday egg production of breeder fed L-tryptophan was similar with that fed the control diet during 7 weeks of the peak laying period(34－41 week－old) after beginning of the experimental feeding but which was significantly(P＜0.05) higher during 84 days of the post peak laying period(41－52 week－old) and 28 days of after experimental feeding period(53－56 week－old) than those of control And birds fed the L-tryptophan layed significantly (P＜0.01) higher numbers of the sellable eggs than those fed control diet during the post peak laying and after experimental feeding periods. While the coefficient of variance for the henday egg and settable egg production were shown lower values in birds fed the diet supplemented with L-tryptophan compared with those fed the control diet Also the diet containing L-tryptophan did not affect fertility and hatchability of settable egg though the number of quality chicks per sellable egg was higher significantly(P＜0.05) in birds fed the L-tryptophan than that fed the control diet.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2022.05a
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• pp.15-17
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• 2022

In the aftermath of the avian influenza that occurred from the second half of 2020 to the beginning of 2021, 17.8 million laying hens were slaughtered. Although the government invested more than 100 billion won for egg imports as a measure to stabilize prices, the effort was not that easy. The sharp volatility of egg prices negatively affected both consumers and poultry farmers, so measures were needed to stabilize egg prices. To this end, the egg prices were successfully predicted in this study by using the analysis algorithm of a machine learning regression. For price prediction, a total of 8 independent variables, including monthly broiler chicken production statistics for 2012-2021 of the Korean Poultry Association and the slaughter performance of the national statistics portal (kosis), have been selected to be used. The Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), which indicates the difference between the predicted price and the actual price, is at the level of 103 (won), which can be interpreted as explaining the egg prices relatively well predicted. Accurate prediction of egg prices lead to flexible adjustment of egg production weeks for laying hens, which can help decision-making about stocking of laying hens. This result is expected to help secure egg price stability.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.123-134
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• 2017

This study was conducted to establish new synthetic lines of Korean Native Chicken. We performed $5{\times}5$ diallel crossings with GPS lines of Korean Native Chicken for the selection of parent stock. The production traits including viability, body weight, age at first egg laying, egg weight, hen-day egg production, and hen-housed egg production were measured and analyzed for 25 crosses with 1,157 hens. The heterosis effects of these traits were also estimated. The results showed that the average survival rate during laying periods was 67.7% in the pure lines and 77.1% in the crosses. The 25 cross combinations were shown to be distinctly divided into three groups according to body weight; nine crosses in the high-weight group, 12 crosses in the medium-weight group and four crosses in the light-weight group. The average body weight at 12 weeks of age was $1,873.8{\pm}43.0g$ in the high group, $1,595.4{\pm}56.6g$ in the medium group and $1,152.7{\pm}24.7g$ in the light group, and $1,560.2{\pm}339.3g$ in the pure lines and $1,640.9{\pm}213.7g$ in the crosses. In terms of egg production performance, the age at first egg laying was $139.7{\pm}4.9$ days in the pure lines and $135.8{\pm}5.1$ days in the crosses. The average egg weight was $52.3{\pm}1.6g$ in the pure line and $53.0{\pm}1.6g$ in the crosses. The average hen-housed egg production from 20 to 40 weeks was $58.3{\pm}12.9$ eggs in the pure line and $69.2{\pm}10.4$ eggs in the crosses. The average heterosis effect was 16.9% for survival rate, 5.4% for body weight at 12 weeks, -2.7% for age at first egg laying, 1.3% for egg weight, and 14.3% for hen-day egg production. Generally, the heterosis effect for viability and egg production traits was higher than that for growth trait. On the basis of these results, it is expected that the selection of the HF combination, which had excellent growth performance, is the most desirable as the paternal strain, and the selection of GW and FW combinations, which had excellent laying performance, are preferable as the maternal strain.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.259-267
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• 2003

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of betaine on egg production, lipid metabolism, and osmoregulation in 18-to 42-week-old ISA Brown laying hens. In experiment 1, three hundred and sixty one hens were fed a com-soy basal diet contailing 16% crude protein (CP), 2800 kcal/kg metabolizable energy (ME), 0.33% methionine, and 0, 300, 600, or 1200 mg betaine per kg diet. Egg production, egg weight, feed consumption, feed conversion, and egg quality were measured every eight weeks. Betaine concentration in live and egg were determined along with serum cholesterol, abdominal fat, total serum protein and albumin levels. In experiment 2, twenty thirty-three-week-old laying hens were fed the same diets as those used in experiment 1 in individual cages and the amount of feed and water consumption were measured for two weeks. At the end of experiment 2, all birds were killed to determine blood plasma and ileal osmopressure, arginine vasotocin (AVT), and liver moisture content. In experiment 1, egg production between the treatments during the first eight weeks were not different, whereas the significant increment of egg production were noticed in the birds fed more than 600 ppm betaine after reaching the peak egg production stage (p<0.05). The egg weight was reduced significantly by the betaine supplementation for the first 8 weeks (p<0.05). Feed conversion tended to improve by betaine supplement. Egg quality was not enhanced by betaine supplementation. Liver betaine level increased with betaine feeding compared to the control but betaine concentration in eggs decreased with betaine supplementation. Betaine supplementation elevated the level of serum total cholesterol and triglyeerides compared to the control. Abdominal fat content was increased by betaine supplementation, whereas liver fat content decreased. In experiment 2, water consumption significantly increased in hens fed diets containing 300 and 600 mg betaine/kg (p<0.05) and osmotic pressure of ileal digesta increased with betaine supplement. Liver moisture content was not affected by betaine, but AVT increased in hens fed betaine. The overal results suggested the possibility of using betaine as a feed additives in the laying hens beacuse of its positive contribution to improving egg production and other metabolic parameters related to lipid metabolism.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.245-252
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• 2018

This study investigated the effect of LED light wavelength (color) on reproductive hormones and egg production of brown laying hens raised on floor. Red, blue, green and white colors of LED light were four treatments with four pens per treatment. One hundred forty four Hy-line brown laying hens (47 wks old) were allocated in a floor pen for six weeks trial. Egg production, egg quality, yolk cholesterol and hormones ($17{\beta}$-estradiol, progesterone) concentrations in plasma and oviduct were analyzed. Egg production of red group was higher (P<0.01) than that of green group. Haugh unit of eggs from red group was higher (P<0.01) than that of blue and green groups. Egg weight of green group was heavier (P<0.05) than that of red group. Shell of blue group was stronger (P<0.05) than that of red and white groups. Shell color of white group was browner (P<0.01) than that of blue and green groups. Yolk cholesterol of red group was higher (P<0.01) than that of others. Plasma $17{\beta}$-estradiol of red group was higher (P<0.05) than that of others at $3^{rd}$ week, but that of white group was highest (P<0.05) at $6^{th}$ week. Oviduct progesterone of green group was higher (P<0.01) than that of others. The result showed that the LED colors affect the reproductive hormone concentrations, egg production, egg weight and egg quality. This study suggested that red LED would be the most appropriate color for floor raising brown laying hens to sustain the egg production when it begins to decline with aging.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.127-127
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• 2001

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.173-179
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• 2011

This experiment was conducted to evaluate the dietary effects of multiple mixture of probiotics on laying performance and the faecal examination in laying hens (Hy-line Brown) at the early (21~40 wk) and middle (41~65 wk) laying term. Multiple probiotics were produced by developing products and the properties of microorganisms were examined for detecting of acid-resistance, bile salt-resistance and antibacterial activity against pathogenic enteric bacteria. Probiotics produced to the fermenting cultures of four selected organisms and soybean meal substrates by nine steps of NK proliferating system. The most microorganisms were shown higher resistance of acidity and bile salt. High antibacterial activities against Bacillus subtilis, Lactobacillus plantarum and Enterococcus faecium were observed, but was not against Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Total egg production of the treatment was significantly higher than control group but was not statistically different between 0.1% and 0.2% treatments (P>0.05). Average egg weight of the treatment in early laying term was also significantly higher than control but was not significantly different between 0.1% and 0.2% treatments (P>0.05). But the egg weight of the treatment in middle laying term was significantly higher than control and between 0.1% and 0.2% treatments (P>0.05). The mortality of 0.2% treatment was significantly lower than control (P<0.05), and 0.2% treatment in the early laying term was tended to decreased than 0.1% treatment and control. But there was not significantly between 0.1% and 0.2% treatments in middle laying term. In feed intake, 0.2% treatment in middle laying term was significantly increased than control and 0.1% treatment (P<0.05) but not in early laying term. In faecal examination, the total number of Lactobacillus of 0.1% treatment was significantly increased than control in whole laying term (P<0.05), but Coli form of the treatment was decreased than control in middle laying term. In conclusion, dietary long term supplementation of multiple probiotics improved performance of lay hens, egg weight and mortality drop by regulating enteric bacteria.