• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.195-204
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• 2002

Two experiments were conducted to study the effects of nutrient level and feeding method of split diets for a.m. and p.m. on laying hen performance, feed cost and eggshell quality. In experiment 1, 384 ISA Brown layers of 30∼38wk of age were assigned to four treatments which comprise of three replicates each containing 32 birds. The control(C) was fed a conventional single diet throughout the day and split diet groups(T1, T2 and T3) were offered high energy/protein-low Ca diets, and low energy/protein-high Ca diets in a.m.(04:00∼15:00) and p.m.(15:00∼21:00), respectively. In the split diet groups, daily ME and CP consumption, and feed cost were significantly reduced(P<0.05) compared to the C, while the hen-day egg production, average egg weight and daily feed intake were not different among treatments. Due to the reduced daily ME and CP intakes and feed cost, the conversions of feed, ME, CP and feed cost required per day and per kg egg mass were also significantly improved(P<0.05) in the split diet groups. Eggshell qualities (egg specific gravity, egg breaking strength and eggshell thickness) were improved(P<0.05) by split diet feeding. As the Ca level of the p.m. diet increased. In Experiment 2, 384 ISA Brown layers of 50∼58 wk of age were used in three treatments and each treatment was represented by four replicates each containing 32 birds. The control(C) was fed a conventional single diet throughout the day and split diet group(T1) was offered high energy/protein-low Ca diets, and low energy/protein-high Ca diets in a.m.(04:00∼l5:00) and p.m.(15:00∼21:00), respectively. T2 group was fed the diet mixed (50:50) with the a.m. diets in mash and p.m. diet in pellet used T1 group. In T1 and T2 groups, daily feed intake and average egg weight were significantly reduced(P<0.05) compared to the C, while the hen-day egg production was not influenced by the feeding system. Daily ME and CP consumption, and feed cost were reduced(p.0.05), and the conversions of ME, CP and feed cost required per egg were also significantly improved(P<0.05) in T1 and T2, while the conversions of feed, ME, CP and feed cost required per kg egg mass were not different to the C. Eggshell qualities of T1 and T2 were improved(P<0.05) compared to the others. It was concluded the feed and nutrients consumption, feed cost per day or per kg egg mass could be reduced by introducing split diets for a.m. and p.m. and the feeding method of mixed diet of split diets were also convenient and effective for sparing feed cost and improvement of eggshell quality.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.799-806
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• 2008

This experiment was carried out to investigate the effect of feeding limestone to high and low Ca layer diets on laying performance and eggshell quality in laying hens. Five hundred and twenty-eight HyLine brown layer allotted to six treatments consisting of high and low Ca diets. Limestone added to two kinds of basal diet with 1, 2 and 3 fold compared to conventional diet. Egg production was not different regardless Ca level and amount of added limestone in overall periods. However, the increment of egg observed in high Ca diet and added 10g limestone group during later period. Ca and limestone intake were increased as increasing feeding limestone. Eggshell strength and thickness were improved in high Ca consumption group. It was concluded that feeding Ca sources to conventional diets was helpful improving eggshell quality and reducing feed cost per egg mass by increasing proportion of Ca intake.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.253-259
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• 1999

The objects of this experiment was to investigate the effect of dietary several supplemental probiotics on performance and intestinal microflora of Lohmann brown laying hens from 68 to 80 weeks. Basal diets based on corn and soybean meal contained 18.0% CP and 2,720㎉/kg ME. Bacillus subtilis, Lactobacillus salvarius isolated from piglet(LSP) were fed at the level of 0.1 and 0.2% in a one way design. There were four replicates of 40 hens each per treatment. Egg production, feed intake, feed conversion ratio(FCR), eggshell quality were measured at every four weeks and intestinal microflora were examined at the end of experiment. Egg production of bird fed 0.2% individual probiotics was significantly higher than that of control(P 0.05). Birds fed the diet containing 0.2% LSC and LSP had significantly lower FCR than other treatments(P 0.05). However, egg weight of birds fed control and 0.2% BS diet showed higher than other treatments. Feed intake of 0.2% BS and 0.1% LSP treatment was significantly higher than other treatments, but was not consistency of all treatments(P 0.05). Eggshell breaking strength and thickness of hens fed probiotics tended to increase compared to that of control, but was not significantly different. Intestinal anaerobes, Lactobacillus spp. and yeast of hens fed all tested probiotics were significantly increased compared to those of control. The number of intestinal E. coli of all probiotics treatments except 0.1% LSP tended to decrease. Intestinal Lactobacillus spp. was increased significantly by 0.1% dietary LSC, whereas intestinal yeast showed significant increase in LSP treatments(P〈0.05). The results of this experiment indicated that feeding probiotics to laying hens improved the egg production, FCR and increased beneficial microflora.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.857-869
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• 2022

Eggs are considered an excellent complete food because they contain many major energy sources, including protein. Eggs are one of the most widely consumed foods worldwide, and egg consumption is steadily increasing. Eggs are generally classified according to their quality and weight. Various characteristics of eggs must be considered for the design and effective utilization of equipment used for the transport, processing, packaging, and storage of eggs. In this study, egg surface area, volume, density, etc. were measured according to the grade of the egg. The values of several geometrical properties that were measured tended to increase with increasing egg grade. The smallest grade eggs had the lowest shell thickness and density. The electrical conductivity of the eggshell and its contents was measured with a self-made electrode and equipment. The egg shell showed properties similar to insulators, and as the thickness increased, the electrical conductivity tended to increase. The electrical conductivity of the egg yolk showed almost constant values under all conditions. The electrical conductivity of the egg white and mixture was particularly low at 0.1 kHz. Fouling and electrode corrosion occurred in a low frequency region due to the egg white. In this study, various geometric and electrical characteristics of eggs were measured, and based on this, factors that could serve as new indicators for egg processed production were analyzed and investigated.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.125-131
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• 2012

The study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation of Macsumsuk and herb resources on the egg performance and quality in Korean native crossbred chickens. A total of three hundred sixty improved Korean native crossbred chickens in primary laying period were randomly allocated to four treatments (30 birds/treatment ${\times}$ 3 replications) for eight weeks. Dietary treatments included CON (basal diets), T1 (basal diets + 0.3% Macsumsuk), T2 (basal diets + 0.3% herb resources) and T3 (basal diets + 0.3% Macsumsuk + 0.3% herb resources). No significant differences were found for feed intake, egg weight and average egg production (P>0.05), however, cracked egg rate was higher in CON than in T1-T3, especially T3 was the lowest (P<0.05). The crude fat content of whole eggs, CON (11.20%) was higher (P<0.05) than the experimental treatments (9.67%-10.01%). Haugh unit, yolk color, eggshell thickness, and eggshell breaking strength tended to be higher in T1 and T2, but there were no significant differences (P>0.05). However, the experimental treatments were significantly higher than CON (P<0.05) for eggshell breaking strength, and T3 (14.91 mg/g) contained lower (P<0.05) cholesterol in egg yolk than other treatments. For fatty acid composition in egg yolk, CON group showed higher saturated fatty acid contents than the experimental treatments, but T1 (67.00%), T2 (66.78%) and T3 (66.82%) were higher than CON for unsaturated fatty acids (P<0.05). In conclusion, supplementating Macsumsuk and herb resources together in diets of Korean native crossbred chickens could decrease egg yolk cholesterol and improve egg quality.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.254-265
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• 2002

Soybean meal (SBM) is a major protein source in poultry feeds and one of the best quality ingredients because of the relatively high protein content, good amino acid profile and bioavailability. But soybean meal quality is largely dependent on the processing technology and origins. In this experiment, effects of three different soybean meals were evaluated in layer (experiment 1) and broiler (experiment 2). Soybean meal sources used in the experiments were the US-originated dehulled soybean meal (USDHSBM), India-originated non-dehulled soybean meal (India SBM) and Brazil-originated non-dehulled soybean meal (Brazil SBM). Experiment 1 was conducted during growing and laying periods and evaluated the interactive effects of soybean meal sources according to feeding periods on growth performance and egg quality. Experiment 2 was conducted during growing period (day 1-35) and finishing period (day 35-42). The growth performance was measured for the same periods and any possible interaction between soybean meal origins and crude protein levels was also studied. In experiment 1, chicks fed India SBM utilized feed more efficiently (p<0.05) than those fed Brazil SBM from day 29 to day 42. The body weights of layers during the laying period had no relation to egg production. But egg weights were significantly heavier in all the USDHSBM fed groups than other groups (p<0.001) and depended on feed protein source during growing period (p<0.001). The average egg weight of the USDHSBM fed group scored the highest value (65.4 g), followed by the Brazil SBM fed group (62.1 g) and India SBM fed group (62.1 g). There was an effect of interaction between origins of soybean meal fed group in growing and laying period on eggshell color (p<0.01). Eggshell was significantly stronger in the USDHSBM fed (for growing period) groups than other groups (p<0.05) on $31^{st}$ week. Haugh's unit (HU), albumin index and yolk index of the USDHSBM fed group in growing stage were significantly superior (p<0.001) to other groups. In experiment 2, for the 7-week, chicks on the India SBM group gained less (p<0.001) weight than other groups. While daily gain of India SBM chicks was not affected by dietary crude protein level, those of the USDHSBM and Brazil SBM chicks were linearly increased as dietary crude protein level increased from 18% to 20%. The gain per feed ratio of the USDHSBM group was the highest (0.585), followed by the Brazil SBM group (0.568) and India SBM group (0.550) (p<0.01). Therefore, in this experiment, the use of USDHSBM with excellent protein quality and amino acid digestibility could be of advantage to the economic production of layer and broiler.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.1065-1076
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• 2024

Objective: This study aimed to assess the effects of dietary mulberry leaves on the growth, production performance, gut microbiota, and immunological parameters of poultry and livestock. Methods: The PubMed, Embase, and Scopus databases were systematically analyzed to identify pertinent studies up to December 2022. The effects of mulberry leaf diet was assessed using the weighted mean difference, and the 95% confidence interval was calculated using a random-effects model. Results: In total, 18 studies that sampled 2,335 poultry and livestock were selected for analysis. Mulberry leaves improved the average daily gain and reduced the feed/meat ratio in finishing pigs, and the average daily gain and average daily feed intake in chicken. In production performance, mulberry leaves lowered the half carcass weight, slaughter rate, and loin eye area in pigs, and the slaughter rate in chickens. Regarding meat quality in pigs, mulberry leaves reduced the cooked meat percentage, shear force, crude protein, and crude ash, and increased the 24 h pH and water content. In chickens, it increased the drip loss, shear force, 45 min and 24 h pH, crude protein, and crude ash. Mulberry leaves also affect the abundances of gut microbiota, including Bacteroides, Prevotella, Megamonas, Escherichia-Shigella, Butyricicoccus, unclassified Ruminococcaceae, Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, and Escherichia coli in poultry and livestock. Mulberry leaves at different doses were associated with changes in antioxidant capacity in chickens, and immune organ indexes in pigs. With respect to egg quality, mulberry leaves at different doses improved the shell strength, yolk color, eggshell thickness, and eggshell weight. However, moderate doses diminished the egg yolk ratio and the egg yolk moisture content. Conclusion: In general, dietary mulberry leaves improved the growth, production performance, and immunological parameters in poultry and livestock, although the effects varied at different doses.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.34 no.11
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• pp.1802-1810
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• 2021

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of supplementing herbal active ingredients (YGF251) which can promote the secretion of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) in the diet on production performance, egg quality, blood hematology, and excreta gas emission in laying hens. Methods: A total of 288 ISA Brown (41-week-old) laying hens with an initial body weight of 1.83±0.68 kg were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 dietary treatments in a randomized block design based on body weight. Each treatment had 12 replicate cages having 6 adjacent cages per replicate (hens are kept in cages alone). The experimental period was 35 days. Dietary treatments were based on the corn-soybean meal-wheat-based basal diet and supplemented with 0.00%, 0.05%, 0.10%, or 0.15% YGF251. Results: There was a linear increased egg weight in weeks 1 to 5 (p<0.05), egg mass in week 1 (p<0.05) and weeks 1 to 5 (p<0.05), egg strength on day 7 (p<0.05), 21 (p<0.01), and 35 (p<0.01), eggshell thickness on day 21 (p<0.05) and 35 (p<0.01), haugh unit on day 21 (p<0.01) and 35 (p<0.05), serum IGF-1 concentration on day 21 (p<0.05) and 35 (p<0.01), and serum total protein concentration on day 35 (p<0.05) were observed with the supplementing YGF251 increased in the diet, while feed conversion ratio in weeks 1 to 5 (p<0.05) and excreta ammonia emission (p<0.01) decreased linearly with the dose of YGF251 increased. Conclusion: Dietary supplementation of YGF251 positively affected the production performance and egg quality of laying hens through increasing serum IGF-1 concentration in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, YGF251 supplementation improved barn environment by reducing excreta noxious gas emission.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.582-586
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• 2006

This experiment was conducted to investigate the dietary effect of garlic powder (GP) and copper (Cu) on laying performances and the cholesterol content and quality characteristics of eggs during storage in laying hens. A total of one hundred and eighty, 50-wk-old, Hy-Line Brown layers were divided into 6 groups with 3 replicates per group (10 layers per replicate) and fed one of six diets containing GP 0%, GP 1%, GP 3%, GP 5%, Cu 200 ppm, or GP 3%-Cu 200 ppm for 5 wks. There were no differences in the laying performances and feed intakes bertween treatments. Eggshell strength, eggshell thickness and yolk color were also not affected by feeding of GP and Cu. With increasing dietary GP, Haugh unit was linearly increased after 2 wk of storage (p<0.05). The levels of serum total cholesterol in hens fed diets containing GP or Cu were lower than that of the control (p<0.05), but high density lipoprotein-cholesterol was not influenced by dietary GP or Cu. The content of egg yolk cholesterol from hens fed diets containing GP or Cu was significantly decreased from that of the control, except for the GP 1% group. Based on the results of this experiment, the decrease of Haugh unit during storage was alleviated by feeding of GP. The feeding of GP or Cu alone and in combination altered the cholesterol fractions in serum and reduced the content of egg yolk cholesterol in laying hens.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.260-265
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to investigate the dietary effects of persimmon peel (PP) and PP ethanol extract (PPE) on egg production, egg quality, and liver lipids in the late stage of egg production in laying hens. One hundred and twenty 50-wk-old Hy-Line Brown layers (n = 120) were fed different diets. Four replicate groups of 6 hens each were randomly assigned to 5 dietary treatments. The 5 dietary treatments were as follows: i) CON, basal diet; ii) PP 0.15, CON+0.15% PP (0.035% tannin); iii) PP 0.5, CON +0.5% PP (0.117% tannin); iv) PPE 0.075, CON+0.075% PPE (0.03% tannin); and v) PPE 0.25, CON+0.25% PPE (0.11% tannin). The total tannin concentration of PPE was higher (p<0.05) than that of PP. Egg production in the PP 0.5 group was higher than in the other groups. Egg production and mass of hens in the PPE 0.25 group showed a greater decrease than that in the other groups (p<0.05). Eggshell color in the PP 0.15, PP 0.5, and PPE 0.075 groups was lighter than that of the control group (p<0.05). The Haugh unit for the groups that were fed PP and PPE were significantly higher than that in the other groups after 7 d of storage (p<0.05). Therefore, PP seems an effective feed additive for improving the production performance and egg quality in late stage laying hens.