• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.12 no.8
• /
• pp.1298-1309
• /
• 1999

The nutritional value of protein varies between feedstuffs. It is possible to feed animals using crystalline amino acids as a sole nitrogen source, but in practice only some limiting amino acids are added to the diet. In order to use feedstuffs efficiently, it is important to determine exact amino acid requirements. Reported values differ widely because the requirements are affected by various factors. In this report, therefore, the factors affecting amino acid requirements are reviewed as follows: 1) availability of dietary amino acids, conversion factors of nitrogen to protein, interaction of amino acids, and strain, sex and age of animals; 2) amino acid requirements for maximum performance and maintenance, usefulness of non-essential amino acids; 3) plasma amino acid concentration as a parameter to determine amino acid requirements; and 4) nitrogen excretion to reduce environmental pollution. These factors should be considered, it is to improve the dietary efficiency, which is to reduce excess nitrogen excretion for environmental pollution.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.25 no.11
• /
• pp.1611-1616
• /
• 2012

The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of sodium nitrate consumption on egg quality and quantity, and some blood parameters of native breeder hens of West Azerbaijan province. One hundred native hens were used from wk 25 to 32 of age. These birds were divided into two groups. One group was fed the control diet (CD) but the other fed the same diet supplemented with 4.2 g/kg sodium nitrate (ND). After 2 wks of adaptation, eggs were collected daily and egg mass and egg production were measured weekly for five weeks. To assess the egg quality parameters, two eggs from each replicate pen were collected for three consecutive days each week. At the end of experimental period (wk 32 of age), blood samples of 5 birds per replicate were collected from the wing vein into anticoagulant tubes. Dietary sodium nitrate didn't affect the egg production, shell stiffness, shell thickness and Haugh unit (p>0.05) but it decreased the both egg production and egg mass during the last three weeks (wks 30, 31 and 32) (p<0.05). Furthermore, a treatment effect was observed for yolk colour (p<0.05). Both the egg production and egg mass were increased over time (p<0.05). No significant treatment${\times}$time interaction was observed for egg weight, egg production and egg mass (p>0.05). No effect of time or treatment${\times}$time were observed for shell stiffness (p>0.05). Over time, shell thickness was decreased while Haugh unit increased (p<0.05). None of the blood TP and TG or the activity of ALT, AST and LDH enzymes were affected by dietary consumption of sodium nitrate at wk 32 of age (p>0.05). Sodium nitrite decreased both the TAC and TC at wk 32 of age (p<0.001). It was concluded that the lower body antioxidant capacity of nitrate fed birds resulted in the lower performance (egg weight, egg production and egg mass).

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
• /
• v.38 no.4
• /
• pp.331-338
• /
• 2011

The study was conducted to evaluate the production and the performance test of egg-type commercial Korean Native Chickens. A total of 360 female layers were produced from CY${\times}$C (A), CL${\times}$C (B), CG${\times}$C (C) and CW${\times}$C (D) crossbreds kept at National Institute of Animal Science, Korea, and breed during 20~64 weeks to investigate the productivity and the performance. Layers were divided into 4 crossbreds (6 replications/crossbred, 15 heads/replication). Age and egg weight at first egg was no significantly different among crossbreds. Body weight (BW) at first egg of D crossbred was significantly lower compared to that of other crossbreds (P<0.05). Weekly BW of B crossbred was the highest at 20, 30 and 40 weeks of age, but BW of D crossbred was the lowest among crossbreds. Feed intake (FI) of B crossbred was significantly higher compared to the other crossbreds at 20~24, 32~44 and 52~60 weeks of age. FI of D crossbred was significantly lower compared to other crossbreds after the age of 44 weeks (P<0.05). Average egg weight of B crossbred was significantly higher than the other crossbreds at the age of 24~60 weeks (P<0.05). Egg production ratio (%) of C crossbred was significantly higher compared to the other crossbreds for whole test periods (P<0.05). Hen-housed egg production number at 64 weeks of age for A, B, C and D crossbreds resulted in 241.4, 235.6, 232.3 and 227.0, respectively. Feed conversion ratio of A and C crossbreds was lower compared to the other crossbreds at the age of 20~24 weeks and C crossbred was the lowest among the crossbreds at the age of 60~64 weeks. These results provide the basic data which will be helpful to develope the new strains of commercial Korean Native Chickens.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
• /
• v.39 no.1
• /
• pp.9-15
• /
• 2012

The aim of this study was to investigate phenotypic characteristics, morphometric measurements, reproduction and production performances of Aseel chicken of Bangladesh. The dominant feather color of neck/hackles was red in both males (56.14%) and females (54.16%) while the sickle feather color was mostly black in both chickens (71.93% vs. 54.17%). The predominant saddle and breast feather colors were red (40.35%) and black (64.91%), respectively, in male whereas most frequent observed color was pale brown in female (58.33 and 50.0%, respectively). The predominant feather color of wing bow and wing bay was found black (68.42 and 80.70%, respectively) in male but only pale brown color was observed in females (62.5 and 54.17%, respectively) for these two characters. Different phenotypic measurements such as the average shank length and circumference were $12.79{\pm}0.13$ and $7.8{\pm}0.08$ cm, respectively, in male and $10.21{\pm}0.25$ and $5.81{\pm}0.21$ cm, respectively, in female. Keel length was $14.39{\pm}0.19$ cm in male and $10.79{\pm}0.23$ cm in female. The average adult live weight in male was measured $3749.12{\pm}83.44$ g while in female it was $2062.50{\pm}105.26$ g. The age of 1st lay was found to be 28.86 weeks. Total number of eggs laid per year ranged between 24~48, number of clutch/hen/year varied from 2 to 4 and number of eggs/clutch/hen was found to be 10~12. The average live weight of Aseel chicken at 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 16 and 17 weeks of age were recorded as $31.14{\pm}0.55$, $48.63{\pm}3.99$, $116.57{\pm}5.72$, $138.40{\pm}5.91$, $212.88{\pm}4.82$, $361.00{\pm}9.72$, $577.50{\pm}42.86$, $743.75{\pm}24.65$, $1086.00{\pm}26.02$, $1402.00{\pm}24.54$ and $1432.00{\pm}27.00$ g respectively. Finally, this phenotypic characterization as well as productive and reproductive performances of Aseel chicken will give the baseline information to researcher for further study and for planning any on-ward conservation and implement strategy.

• Animal Bioscience
• /
• v.35 no.2
• /
• pp.299-307
• /
• 2022

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the effects of different social ranking order (SRO) and the enrichments (perch and dust-bath) allocation (EA) on behavior of laying hens in furnished cages. Methods: Total experimental period was 4 weeks. There were 216 Hy-line brown layers beak-trimmed at 1 d of age and selected randomly at 14 weeks of age from a commercial farm, and randomly divided into 36 cages with 6 hens in each cage. High enrichments (perch and dust-bath) allocation (HEA) and low enrichments (perch and dust-bath) allocation (LEA) were provided. Video observations of behavior were obtained from the focal hens between 14 and 18 weeks of age and perching, dust-bathing and other general behaviors of the hens with different social orders were measured. Results: Perching behavior of high SRO hens (HSR) were significantly higher than that of medium SRO hens (MSR), and that of the MSR were significantly higher than that of low SRO hens (LSR) (p<0.01), except for lying on perch (p>0.05). The hens in the high EA cage (HEAC) showed more lying behavior on perch than those in the low EA cage (LEAC) (p<0.01). The different SRO and EA did not affect dust-bathing behavior except vertical wing-shaking behavior (p<0.05). The LEA did not affect general behaviors (p>0.05), except standing and preening behaviors (p<0.01 and p<0.05), of which the hens in the HEAC showed less standing (p<0.01) and more preening behavior than the hens in the LEAC. Conclusion: The SRO of laying hens has a significant effect on the perching behaviors, but SRO and EA have little effect on dust-bathing and general behaviors.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.115-119
• /
• 2015

The study was carried out to assess the production performances of Japanese quail parent stock raised under open housing system and the study was conducted in a local farm with 2000 Japanese parent stock quail birds (Coturnix coturnix japonica). Observed body weight gain was recorded in each weekend up to 7 weeks of their age; birds gained weight 15.73, 31.45, 47.20, 90.80, 125.27, 153.14 and 175.20 grams, respectively. There have been observed sharp decline of fertility and hatchability of birds with increase of their age. Optimum fertility was recorded at third week and optimum hatchability at fifth week of their age. Average flock uniformity was found 83.68%. The hen day egg production of the flock was recorded 81, 83, 85, 86, 89, 89, 89, 89 and 88% in each weekend, respectively. It may therefore be concluded that Japanese quail parent stock performs well under open housing system in Bangladesh and future study can be taken to better understand their production performances.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• v.29 no.6
• /
• pp.887-894
• /
• 2016

This study was conducted to compare the effects of layout of furniture (a perch, nest, and sandbox) in cages on behavior and welfare of hens. Two hundred and sixteen Hyline Brown laying hens were divided into five groups (treatments) with four replicates per group: small furnished cages (SFC), medium furnished cages type I (MFC-I), medium furnished cages type II (MFC-II), and medium furnished cages type III (MFC-III) and conventional cages (CC). The experiment started at 18 week of age and finished at 52 week of age. Hens' behaviors were filmed during the following periods: 8:00 to 10:00; 13:00 to 14:00; 16:00 to 17:00 on three separate days and two hens from each cage were measured for welfare parameters at 50 wk of age. The results showed that feeding and laying of all hens showed no effect by cage type (p>0.05), and the hens in the furnished cages had significantly lower standing and higher walking than CC hens (p<0.05). The birds in MFC-III had significant higher preening, scratching and feather-pecking behavior than in the other cages (p<0.05). No difference in nesting behavior was found in the hens between the furnished cages (p>0.05). The hens in MFC-I, -II, and -III showed a significant higher socializing behavior than SFC and CC (p<0.05). The lowest perching was for the hens in SFC and the highest perching found for the hens in MFC-III. Overall, the hens in CC showed poorer welfare conditions than the furnished cages, in which the feather condition score, gait score and tonic immobility duration of the hens in CC was significantly higher than SFC, MFC-I, MFC-II, and MFC-III (p<0.05). In conclusion, the furnished cage design affected both behavior and welfare states of hens. Overall, MFC-III cage design was better than SFC, MFC-I, and MFC-II cage designs.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
• /
• v.44 no.4
• /
• pp.245-251
• /
• 2017

A dose-response experiment was conducted to determine the lysine requirement for broiler breeder hens during pre-peak production. Totally, one hundred and twenty-six flock 23-week-old Ross 308 broiler breeder hens with similar body weight were selected ($2,188{\pm}32g$) for a 6-week experiment. Hens were fed with a basal diet of corn-wheat-soybean meal formulated to achieve the Ross 308 breeder nutrient specifications (2016), except for lysine. The 7 graded, daily lysine intake levels used in this experiment were 732, 785, 838, 891, 944, 997, and 1,050 mg, and hens were restricted to 133 g of feed throughout this experiment. Pen based egg production were recorded once a day and all eggs were weighed daily. Age at sexual maturity was determined when the hens attained age at 25% production. Body weight at 23~29 weeks of age was not affected (P>0.05) by lysine levels. By fitting a linear-plateau model, the daily lysine requirements for feed conversion ratio, total produced egg weight, and age at sexual maturity at 23~29 weeks of age were estimated as 865, 907, and 891 mg, respectively. Using a quadratic-plateau model, the daily lysine requirement at 23~29 weeks of age were estimated as 974, 964, and 950 mg for feed conversion ratio, total produced egg weight, and age at sexual maturity, respectively. These results suggested that the daily lysine requirement for modern broiler breeder hens according to the National Research Council (1994) are insufficient for higher total produced egg weight, sexual maturity, and feed efficiency, and 120% of the NRC recommendation level would improve hen productivity when data are fitted under linear- and quadratic-plateau models.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
• /
• v.46 no.2
• /
• pp.105-115
• /
• 2019

In this study, viability, growth performance and egg production performance were investigated to determine the productive characteristics of 12 Korean domestic chicken varieties which have been collected and conserved for over 25 years in National Institute of Animal Science, Rural Development Administration, Korea. The 1,134 hens were tested and their production traits including survival rate, body weight, age at first egg laying, hen-day and hen-housed egg production, egg weight, and egg quality were measured. Survival rate was the highest in Korean Rhode-D and Korean Native Chicken (KNC) White and the lowest in Korean Cornish Brown (92.2% and 54.3%, respectively). Body weights from 4 to 50 wks were consistently high in the order of Korean Cornish, Korean Rhode, KNC, Korean Ogye, and Korean Leghorn breeds. There was no significant difference in weight between varieties within a breed. Age at first egg laying was the shortest in Korean Leghorn, while it was the longest in Korean Cornish. The hen-day egg production from $1^{st}$ egg to 57 wks was the highest in Korean Leghorn-K, and the lowest in Korean Cornish Brown. Egg weight was the heaviest in Korean Leghorn-F and the lightest in KNC White. The Haugh unit was the highest in Korean Rhode-C and the lowest in Korean Ogye. Taken together, these results suggest that it is desirable that the Korean Cornish variety is improved as the Korean meat breed because of its excellent growth ability, the Korean Leghorn variety is improved as the Korean layer breed because of its good laying performance, and the Korean Rhode and KNC varieties are improved as strong viable breeds because of their good survival rate.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.73-79
• /
• 1988

In order to study the effects of feeding time (08：00 and 14：00 hours) and frequency (once a day, twice a day and once every other day) on the performances of broiler breeder hens, two experiments were conducted with 1, 248 hens of Maniker strain during 24－2 weeks (Experiment 1) and 42－60 weeks (Experiment 2) of age. The results obtained are summarized as follows ： 1. No significant differences were observed in hen－day egg production and feed conversion rate between feeding times or among feeding frequencies through the entire experimental period. 2. Mean egg weight during the age of 24－42 weeks was significantly increased by feeding in the afternoon (p＜0.01). But it was not significantly affected by feeding time or frequency during 42－60 weeks of age. 3. Fertility and hatchability of eggs at 36 weeks and 60 weeks of age were not significantly different among treatments. 4. By feeding in the afternoon egg breaking strength at 60 weeks of age was significantly improved (p＜0.05), but not at 36 weeks of age. 5. In diurnal distribution of egg production, hens fed in the afternoon produced more eggs in the afternoon than hens fed during the morning (p＜0.01).