• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.755-768
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• 1998

Nitrogen and phosphorus are major nutrients in animal feeds which partially remain in the environment as pollution. In addition, nitrogen and phosphorus along with energy are the main nutrients which determine the feed cost. Any decreases in the levels of these three nutrients can contribute to reducing the pollution problem as well as the cost of feed. The nutrient requirements for chickens in the work here reported should allow for the addition of mixed enzymes (phytases, proteases, glucanases, xylanases and others). Such minimal levels of crude protein in the research results which are here reported are 16% for 0-6 weeks of age, 13.5% for 7-12 weeks of age, 11.5% for 13-18 weeks of age for layer type chicks, 13% for layer, 18% for 0-3 weeks of age broiler and 16.5% for 4-7 weeks of age broiler. These research projects have been done without adding enzyme supplements to their experimental diets. The minimal values of phosphorus, shown as available phosphorus, are 0.25% for pullets, 0.09% for layers and 0.25% for broilers with the addition of phytase. The minimum energy requirement (metabolizable energy) for reducing the feed cost could be summarized as 2,750 kcal per kg feed for pullets, 2,800 kcal for layers and 2,700 kcal for broilers.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.589-600
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• 2021

The present study investigated the effect of perch material type (wood and steel) on performance, blood characteristics, and feather pecking. A total of 1,700, one-day-old female Hy-Line brown chicks were evenly assigned to two treatments (wood and steel). The body weight and uniformity of birds were investigated over a 10-week experimental period. Blood characteristics and feather pecking was conducted at week 10. The wood perch treatment (WP) and steel perch treatment (SP) did not differ in their body weight, uniformity, and serum biochemical profile (except inorganic phosphorus) of pullets. Inorganic phosphorus on serum in WP significantly higher than that in SP (P<0.05). Blood corpuscle composition (leukocyte, erythrocyte, and Heterophil / Lymphocyte ratio) of pullets did not show any significant differences among treatments at week 10. Serum corticosterone and feather score that is stress and welfare indices were not affected by the type of perch material. In conclusion, our results suggest that performance, blood characteristics, and feather pecking of pullets were not affected by the perch material type. The results of this study can serve as basic data for investigating the effects of perch type on layer pullets.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.8
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• pp.1196-1203
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• 2014

This study intended to compare the productive performance of three different layer raising systems; conventional cage (CC), barn (BR) and aviary (AV). The AV is welfare bestowed housing that allows free locomotion for birds within the BR. The BR allows bird's free locomotion inside BR but without multilevel structures. Both pullets and cockerels were housed together in both AV and BR, but only pullets in CC. Seventeen weeks old Lohmann Brown Lite (n = 800) pullets were housed in AV during this study. The same age layer pullets were simultaneously assigned to either at CC or BR to compare egg production performance with AV. The duration of experiment was 40 weeks (from 21st to 60th week). There were no remarkable differences in egg production, hen day egg production (HDEP) and average egg weight among three rearing systems. First 20 weeks (phase-1) average HDEP (%) of AV, CC, and BR were 85.9, 88.8, 87.1 and average egg weights (g) were 57.5, 59.9, and 56.9 respectively. Those of the remaining 20 weeks (phase-2) were 87.1, 87.9, 85.5 and 64.2, 63.0 62.1, respectively. Daily feed intakes (122 g, 110 g, 125 g); feed conversion ratio (2.4, 2.1, 2.5) and daily egg mass (53.9 g, 54.4 g, 52.8 g) data from AV, CC, and BR were not influenced significantly by the respective raising systems. Daily feed intake of layers in both AV (124 g) and BR (127 g) tended to be higher than that in CC (113 g) during phase-2. Overall, exterior egg quality (dirty and cracked eggs) in both phases was superior in BR compared with AV and CC, whereas CC generated intermediate results. This study indicated that the HDEP per se in AV and BR were not significantly different from that in CC. The study implied that the facility depreciation cost for AV and cost for increased feed intake in AV compared to CC are believed to be critical to evaluate the cost effectiveness of egg production in AV.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.281-283
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• 1990

Ten-week-old layer type pullets were used in this study, housed 10 birds per cage(61$\times$41cm) and were replicated 15 times After raising them on a 19% protein diet up to ten weeks of age they were fed a 12% protein corn-soy control diet or one with half or all of the soybean mea replaced with ground full-fat sunflower seeds. At 19 weeks of age, pulltes were transferred to a layer house and their respective diet was gradually changed to a 13.5% layer diet containing 635% oats. The 19% protein SFS diet in treatment 2 did not show my, adverse effect on body weight or subsequent egg productio. The higher level of SES(38%) appeared to delay sexual maturity somewhat as was indicated by body weight and egg production data. However, the higher replacement of soybean with SFS(38%) in the pullet ration may not be critical for sexual maturity, but beneficial in a full laying cycle. There were no adverse effects on later stages of production.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.11
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• pp.1576-1584
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• 2008

In this study, canonical correlation analysis (CCA) was applied to estimate the relationship between three different sexual maturity traits (X set: days to first egg (DFE), weight of the first egg (WFE), body weight at first egg (BWFE)) and level of nutrient intake (Y set: energy (EI) and protein intake (PI)) or the egg production traits at two different periods (Z set: number of egg (NE1 and NET) and weight of egg (WE1 and WET) from 22 to 25 (Wfirst) and 22 to 33 wk of age (Wall), respectively), which were measured from 64 egg-type pullets (Isa Brown) manipulated for time of access to energy and protein sources to onset of egg production. Partial CCA (PCCA) was used to eliminate the contribution of differences in the levels of nutrient intake to canonical variables for X and Z sets at the first production period. Estimated canonical correlation coefficients between X set and Y set (0.429, p = 0.042), X set and Z set (0.390, p = 0.007 for Wfirst) and within Z set (between Wfirst and Wall; 0.780, p<0.001), and partial canonical correlation coefficient between X set and Z set (0.415, p = 0.009) were significant. Canonical weights and loadings from CCA indicated that the BWFE had the largest contribution compared to the DFE and WFE to variation of egg number produced at two different periods. The results from PCCA indicated that the contribution of PI and EI to the degree of the correlation between canonical variables for X and Z sets were unfavourable. In conclusion, the effect of body weight at sexual maturity upon the availability of nutrients can have a higher contribution to variation of egg production in pullets if the contribution of differences in nutrient intakes to onset of egg production were eliminated.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.91-95
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• 1992

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the performance of broilers and layers fed locally produced fish waste meal (LFWM) in Western Samoa. LFWM, which was produced by mincing and oven drying of rejects from filleted fish, was included in both broiler and layer diets at the complete expense of imported meat and bone meal (MBM). The experiments were of a completely randomised design. In experiment 1, 120 day-old Strabro broiler chicks were raised to 49 days of ages. In experiment 2, 80 Shaver 288 pullets, 20 weeks of age, were housed in pairs in cages and raised up to 72 weeks of age. There were no differences (p > 0.05) in performance of broilers as measured in terms of final bodyweights, feed intake, feed efficiency and carcass yield between the two diets. Similarly, no differences (p > 0.05) existed in egg production, egg weight and feed required per kilogramme of eggs. It is concluded that LFWM is nutritionally as good as imported MBM and could be used to completely replace MBM in broiler and layer diets.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.976-982
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• 2007

This study investigated whether supplemental Cu, Fe, Zn, and Mn are needed in a practical diet for pullets. Four hundred and twenty females of an egg-laying strain (1-d-old, Lohmann Brown Layer) were randomly distributed into 4 groups, consisting of 7 replicates of 15 birds each. During the 18-week experimental period, chicks were given three basal diets in sequence, each with single or multiple Mn, Zn and Cu supplementation to improve the mineral balance gradually. In the Control, no Mn, Zn, and Cu were added; in the single Mn supplemented group (sMn) Mn was added to 120, 60, and 60 mg/kg for 1-6, 7-12, and 13-18 weeks of age, respectively; in the multiple Mn and Zn supplemented group (mMnZn), Mn was added to 180, 90, and 90 mg/kg and Zn was added to 120, 105, and 105 mg/kg for 1-6, 7-12, and 13-18 weeks of age, respectively; in the multiple Mn, Zn, Cu supplemented group (mMnZnCu), Mn, Zn, and Cu were added to the same multiple of basal Fe concentration relative to NRC (1994) recommendations. Energy and protein metabolizability were determined by subtracting energy/protein intake by energy/protein excretion (from both feces and urine) and dividing by energy/protein intake. There were no statistically significant differences between groups in terms of feed intake, final body weight or tibia length throughout the experiment. Optimal growth performance was observed in the Control, while adding trace minerals to basal diets tended to result in decreased productive performance. Protein metabolizability was increased by mMnZn and mMnZnCu treatments, but energy metabolizability was not affected. Concentrations of Mn, Zn, Cu in excreta varied greatly related to dietary content, and the retentions of Cu, Fe, Zn and Mn were all increased due to the improvement of mineral balance. Based on these results, it is suggested that the concentrations of Cu, Fe, Zn and Mn in typical basal diets used in this study were adequate for normal growth for pullets from 1 to 18 weeks of age.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.173-178
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• 1988

To study the effects of utilizing extruded full fat soybean (FFS) in layer diets, 300 White Leghorn pullets were put in trial divided into 5 treatments; control (commercial soybean meal as protein source), FFS 50% (replacing 50% of soybean meal with FFS), FFS 100% (replacing all amount of soybean meal with FFS), soybean oil and tallow added treatment. Each treatment consisted of 5 replicates of 12 birds. Egg production and feed efficiency from hens fed control diet were significantly lower than from hens fed the other diets. Significant differences in egg production and feed efficiency were found between the control and the other treatments. Cholesterol concentration of serum and egg yolk were not affected by any dietary treatment. Feeding extruded full fat soybean did not cause pancreatic hypertrophy nor change in mortality. There was an indication that linoleic acid (C18:2), linolenic acid (C18:3) and iodine contents increased in the thigh and egg yolk lipid of the groups fed FFS or soybean soybean can serve as effective protein source for layer diets if economically justified.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.7
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• pp.974-980
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• 2014

In semi-arid areas of Southern Africa, dehydration can compromise the performance and welfare of local chickens, particularly during the growing period when confinement is curtailed and birds are left to scavenge for feed and water. The effect of water restriction on the growth performance was compared in Naked Neck (NNK) and Ovambo (OVB) chickens that are predominant in Southern Africa. A total of 54 eight-wk-old pullets each of NNK and OVB chickens with an initial average weight of $641{\pm}10g/bird$ were randomly assigned to three water intake treatments, each having six birds for 8 wk. The water restriction treatments were ad libitum, 70% of ad libitum and 40% of ad libitum intake. Nine experimental pens with a floor space of $3.3m^2$ per strain were used. The pens were housed in an open-sided house with cement floor deep littered with a 20 cm layer of untreated wood shavings. Feed was provided ad libitum. Average daily water intake (ADWI), BW at 16 weeks of age (FBW), ADG, ADFI, feed conversion ratio (FCR) and water to feed ratios (WFR) were determined. Ovambo chickens had superior (p<0.05) FBW, ADG and ADWI than NNK chickens. Body weight of birds at 16 weeks of age, ADG, ADFI, ADWI, and WFR declined progressively (p<0.05) with increasing severity of water restriction while FCR values increased (p<0.05) as the severity of water restriction increased. Naked Neck chickens had better FCR at the 40% of ad libitum water intake level than Ovambo chickens. The dressing percentage per bird was higher in water restricted birds than those on ad libitum water consumption, irrespective of strain. Heart weight was significantly lower in birds on 40% of ad libitum water intake than those on ad libitum and 70% of ad libitum water intake, respectively. In conclusion, NNK chickens performed better than OVB chickens under conditions of water restriction and would be ideal to raise for meat and egg production in locations where water shortages are a major challenge.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.127-137
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• 1997

This study was conducted to estimate the laying performance and heterosis of Korean Native Chicken(KNC), Rhode Island Red(RIR), and KNC x RIR crossbreds A total of 1,274 female pullets were produced from KNC, RIR and RIR crossbreds in National Livestock Research Institute, Korea. The experiment was conducted for 2O~64 weeks from Jan 20. to Nov.25, 1996. The age at first egg of crossbreds were 144.1~148.7 days. The first egg weight of crossbreds was 39. 4~40.3 g, and body weights at first egg of KNC dark brown strain x RlR(DR), KNC light brown strain x RlR(LR) and KNC dark black strain x RlR(BR) were 1,943 g, 1,925 g and 2,044 g, respectively. During the laying period the average viability of crossbreds was 96.6~98.3%. The hen-day egg production of crossbreds were 111.1~113.O eggs at 40 weeks of age, and 223.5~227.5 eggs at 64 weeks of age, respectively. The hen-day egg production peaks were 78.2~80.1% in KNC, and 85.8~87.5% in crossbreds. The heterosis were estimated to be 3.61%, 9.21%, 4.78%, 2.97% and -1.63% for the first egg days, body weights at first egg, layer viability, hen-day egg production, and feed conversion ratio, respectively.