• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
• /
• v.38 no.3
• /
• pp.205-211
• /
• 2011

This work was carried out to investigate the effect of the induced molting diet based on wheat bran on the postmolt performance of layers. Two hundred White Leghorn layers (65-old-wk) with over 80% egg production were used for 8 weeks in this work. Treatments were non-molt control (CO), fasting treatment for 10 days (FW), molt treatment with used molting diet for 4 wk (UM), molt treatment with molting diet based on corn-wheat bran for 4 wk (CW), and molt treatment with molting diet based on wheat bran for 4 wk (WM) as 5 treatments (4 replications/treatment and 10 birds/replication). Feed intake decreased at molting treatments at first weeks and increased after the 3rd week compared to control (P<0.05). Body weight (BW) loss were 18.6% of initial BW at first week in FW treatment, and were 11.4, 14.2 and 17.4% in UM, CW and WM treatments at 4th weeks (P<0.05). Egg production decreased at 1 week in molt treatment and stopped at 2 week in FW, whereas, other molting treatments didn't stop laying eggs. The birds started to lay egg at 4 week in FW and recovered at 5 week in other molting treatments. Egg quality (eggshell thickness, eggshell breaking strength, haugh unit) was high in molting treatments compared with control at 8th weeks (P<0.05). Finally, molting diet based on wheat bran affected BW loss and egg quality such as eggshell thickness, eggshell breaking strength and haugh unit.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
• /
• v.39 no.4
• /
• pp.283-290
• /
• 2012

The objective of this study was to compare the growth performance between Korean native layer chickens and imported layer chickens at early rearing stage. Total number of chicks analyzed in this study was 276 and feeding period was conducted from July 24, 2012 for 10 weeks. Five strains including 2 Korean native strains: A=Korean Native Black (Chungcheongbuk-do) and B=Korean Native Yellowish Brown (Gyeongsangbuk-do) and 3 imported layer strains: C=White Leghorn (Gyeongsangnam-do), D=White Leghorn (Seoul), and E=Ameraucanas (Gyeongsangbuk-do) were used to analyze the following traits such as fertility, hatchability, body weight at a different growing stage, average body weight gain, and feed conversion ratio. The fertilities and hatchabilities of strains were 93.88% and 95.65% in strain A, 81.75% and 86.24% in strain B, 82.25% and 88.15% in strain C, 79.25% and 90.85% in strain D, and 71.50% and 88.11% in strain E, respectively. A viability was excellent in strains A and E to be more than 98% and was low in strain D to be 86.67% at a whole week. The strain A had greater body weight during growing stages (p<0.05) than the other strains. The shank length of strain D of $56.69{\pm}3.27mm$ was the highest value at 10 weeks of age among strains (p<0.05). The phenotypic correlation coefficients of strains A and D between an average body weight gain and a shank length were 0.63 and 0.73 during 0~2 wk, 0.70 and 0.55 during 2~4 wk, 0.55 and 0.54 during 4~6 wk, 0.50 and 0.24 during 6~8 wk, and 0.46 and 0.29 during 8~10 wk, respectively. The Korean native hens may have potential abilities to be used as an excellent seed stock for poultry industry.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
• /
• v.42 no.3
• /
• pp.231-238
• /
• 2015

The present study aimed to investigate the effects of lycopene on hepatic metabolic- and immune-related gene expression in laying hens. A total of 48 25-week-old White Leghorn hens were randomly allocated into four groups consisting of four replicates of three birds: control (basal diet), T1 (basal diet + 10 mg/kg of tomato powder-containing lycopene), T2 (basal diet + 10 mg/kg of micelles of tomato powder-containing lycopene), and T3 (basal diet + 10 mg/kg of purified lycopene). Chickens were fed ad libitum for 5 weeks, and then total RNA was extracted from the livers for quantitative RT-PCR analysis. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor ${\gamma}$ (PPAR${\gamma}$) expression was decreased in the liver of chickens after lycopene supplementation (P<0.05). Micellar lycopene supplementation decreased the expression of PPAR${\gamma}$ target genes including fatty acid binding protein 4 (FABP4) and fatty acids synthase (FASN) in the T2 group (P<0.05). Sterol regulatory element-binding protein 2 (SREBP2) and C/EBP-${\alpha}$ were also downregulated in hens fed with micellar lycopene (P<0.05). Glucose transporter 8 (GLUT-8) was upregulated in the T2 and T3 groups (P<0.05). However, the expression of carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1 (CPT-1) was not changed by lycopene supplementation. Pro-inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor ${\alpha}$ (TNF-${\alpha}$) and interleukin 6 (IL-6) were downregulated by lycopene supplementation (P<0.05). These data suggest that the type of lycopene supplementation is critical and that micelles of tomato powder-containing lycopene may play an important role in the modulation of lipid metabolism and immunity in chickens.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
• /
• v.38 no.4
• /
• pp.305-313
• /
• 2011

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of housing systems on the productivity and physiological response as stress indicators in White Leghorn chickens. The chickens subjected to the conventional cages had a significantly lower viability, hen-housed egg production, egg weight and body weight compared with those to the floor pens. However, the hens housed in the conventional cages had a shorter day of the first egg and a greater egg quality compared with those housed in the floor pens. In addition, this study was also investigated to identify biological markers for assessing the physiological response of chickens under stress conditions. As biological markers, the amount of telomeric DNA was analyzed by quantitative fluorescent in situ hybridization on the nuclei of cells. The DNA damage rate of lymphocytes was also quantified by the comet assay. The amount of telomeric DNA of the lymphocytes, kidney and spleen was significantly higher in the chickens under floor pens than those under conventional cages. The DNA damage also increased in chickens raised under conventional cages, as compared to the chickens under floor pens. As results, we conclude that the chickens housed in conventional cages have a greater stressful status than those housed in floor pens.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.75-81
• /
• 1983

The records on 787 white Leghorn hens from two different strains, A and K were wed in this study to find out the pattern of increase in egg weight with age and the optimum age of early selection for maximizing the genetic gain. The pattern of increase in egg weight with age in two lines which was expressed on graph showed that the amount of increase was larger in the early part of the laying year and it decreased gradually. Regression equations suggested that egg weight increased linearly with age at the rate of 0.46 gram per week for line A and 0.83 gram for line K. And in the regression analyses of each period mean egg weight on annual mean egg weight, the coefficients of EW 30 that is mean egg weight from 29 weeks of age to 32 weeks of age were 0.86 for line A, 0.88 for line K, and those were the highest figures among the all regression coefficients of each mean egg weight on annual mean egg weight. In estimating the relative selection efficiency of each period mean egg weight on annual mean egg weight in EW 46, selection on EW 34 for line A and on EW 30 for line K was the most efficient for improving egg weight. These results suggested that one periods from 29 weeks of age to 36 weeks of age could be used for the best predictable time for improving annual mean egg weight.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.31-38
• /
• 1985

To learn more about the productivity of edible meat and its functional properties of spent hen, 60 White Leghorn fowls at 20 month of age were randomly divided into 6 groups, 10 hen for each group, and processed. As the productivity of edible meat, the yield of dressed carcass, giblets, cut-up meat, and breast and leg (thigh and drustick) muscles were determined. The approximate chemical composition, the content of salt-soluble protein, the emulsifying capacity and W.H.C. of breast and leg muscle were measured as the functional properties. The results were summarized as follows. 1. The average live weight of spent hen was 1,576.7g from which the yield of dressed carcass and giblets were 998.9g(63.4%) and 75.3g(4.8%) respectively. It means the yield of ready-to-cook form was 1,074.2g(68.2%) and the inedible byproducts was 502.5g (31.8%). 2. The average, weight of each part of cut-up chicken were: neck 41.0g(4.1%), wings 135.9g (13.6%), breast 276.7g (27.7%), legs 323.6g (42.4%). back 176.1g(17.6%) and the cutting-loss was 45.6g(4.6%). 3. The average weight of total edible muscle from breast and leg was 51.5g(85.86% of breast and leg cut weight) and the percentages based on the carcass and live weights were 51.6% and 32.7%, respectively. 4. The contents of H$_2$O, protein, fat and water-protein ratio of breast muscle were 72.95%, 20.54%, 1.59% and 3.55, respectively and those of leg muscle were 71.9%, 19.12%, 3.96% and 3.76%, respectively. 5. The salt-soluble protein contents of breast and leg muscle were 7.97% and 6.26% and their concentrations based on the total protein content were 38.8% and 32.74%, respectively. 6. The emulsifying capacity of breast and leg muscle was 43.23$m\ell$and 43.23$m\ell$, respectively. 7. The W. H. C- of breast and leg muscle was 54.23% and 52.61%, respectively.