• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.97-103
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• 2013

The present study examined effects of production performance, immune activity and egg quality by raising on exercise yard in laying Hens, the results of which could be used as baseline data to enhance animal welfare and the safety of livestock products. A total of 90 Hy-line-Brown laying hens of 13 weeks old were used in the experiment for 38 weeks. The cage group (Cage group) was raised in a cage, where an area of $0.084m^2$ was assigned to two hens, while hens in the exercise yard $1.1m^2$ group ($1.1m^2$ group) was assigned to a combination of a chicken house ($0.11m^2$) and a exercise yard ($1.1m^2$) per a hen. Hens in the exercise yard $2.2m^2$ group ($2.2m^2$ group) was assigned to a combination of a chicken house ($0.11m^2$) and a exercise yard ($2.2m^2$) per a hen. Treatment was replicated 3 times with ten birds per replication. Ten birds were arranged according to randomized block design. While initial egg production rate was significantly higher in the Cage group, $1.1m^2$ group exhibited a slightly higher rate in the mid- and late-stage of the experiment, although the difference was not statistically significant. Exercise yard treatment groups exhibited a higher feed intake rate than the Cage group up until the hens were 39 weeks old (P<0.05), but the difference dissipated from that age on. The age at first egg in the exercise yard treatment groups was 16 days later than that for the Cage group (P<0.05), although differences in the quality of the eggs were not observed. The results of immune activity test showed that IgA in the exercise yard treatment groups was significantly higher than that in the Cage group (P<0.05). IgG, IgM, and corticosterone were also higher in the exercise yard treatment groups. The soil in exercise yard increased of organic matter and decreased of cation exchange capacity (CEC) in raised hens. In sum, raising hens in a exercise yard raise style decreased the rate of initial egg production, which was followed by a slight increase during the latter part of the experiment. The exercise yard raise hens' immune activity was heightened.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.183-191
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• 2018

The study was conducted to investigate the effect of dietary supplementation of Lactobacillus, medicinal plants extract, and essential oil on laying performance, cecal microflora, relative organic weight, leucocyte profiles in laying hens against Salmonella gallinarum. A total of 100 Hy-Line Brown laying hens of 65 weeks of age were assigned into 5 dietary treatments supplemented with no antibiotic (negative control), antibiotic (positive control), Lactobacillus 0.1% (LB), medicinal plants extract 100 ppm (MPE), herb extract 100 ppm (EO). After 7 days of treatment, the 20 hens in each treatment group were divided into challenge group (n=10) and non-challenge group (n=10) for oral administration of Salmonella gallinarums, and were maintained in the same dietary treatments for two additional weeks. Laying hens were selected 20 by each treatment, splitting up into oral Salmonella group and nontreated group. The feeding trial lasted for one weeks and Salmonella gallinarum was orally administered for two weeks. Egg production, egg weight, egg mass, and feed conversion ratio were calculated and cecal microflora, relative organ, and blood were collected at the end of experiment. Compared with the control, laying hens fed Lactobacillus, medical plant extract, and essential oil were not observed to change of laying performance. Salmonella count increased significantly when Salmonella gallinarum was orally administered (P<0.05) but coliform bacteria and Lactobacillus counts were not affected. The relative organs weight was not different in hens with oral administration of Salmonella gallinarum and also in hens fed Lactobacillus, medical plant extract, and essential oil. H/L ratio was not significantly different, but total leucocyte level was somewhat increased in the treatment with oral administration of Salmonella gallinarum and more leucocyte increased in laying hens fed Lactobacillus, medical plant extract, and essential oil than control.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.133-153
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• 2000

The egg's interior quality is one of the most important criteria for commercial producers and consumers. Internal quality is complex, including aesthetic factors such as taste, freshness, nutritional and processing values, and the genetic influences upon these upon these factors ranges from none to considerable. The rate of cholesterol synthesis in the hen is very high compared to other animals and humans. Genetic selection, diet drugs and other chemicals can alter cholesterol concentration in the plasma of laying hen, but attempts to manipulate the cholesterol concentration in the egg yolk are generally unsuccessful since the cholesterol can only be changed to a small extent. Factors which may affect the degree of pigmentation of the yolk include the type of xanthophyll and its concentration in the feed, the feed composition, and the health of the hen. Several feed ingredients interact with carotenoid pigment to improve or reduce their deposition rates in yolks. Egg weight is determined by genetics, body size prior to first egg housing density, environmental temperature, lighting program, total feed consumption, calcium, phosphorus, niacin, water, methionine, total sulfur amino acids, energy, linoleic acid, fat and protein levels. Eggs need to be promote levels. Eggs need to be promoted a versatile commodity and new processed egg items need to be developed. Organic eggs are laid by hens which were raised in chemical and drug frdd environments. There are still difficulties in producing these eggs due to the availability of organic poultry feeds and cost of organic grains.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.393-408
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• 2018

This study was carried out to investigate how chlorella dry powder added to the feed of laying hens influences on the egg quality and the composition of egg yolk's fatty acid. Moisture content, ash content, crude protein content, and crude fat content were 12.8%, 10.8%, 18.0% and 2.5%, respectively. The moisture content of the chlorella powder added to the feed was about 1.54%, the ash content was 6.53%, the crude protein content was 54.56%, and the crude fat content was 2.45 %. After feeding chlorella, compared to the control, the color of egg shell significantly became darker. The hardness of egg shell was increased for 10 days after chlorella feeding and was significantly strengthened. Thickness of egg shell was significantly thicker. The height of egg whites was increased. After 10 days of providing chlorella, the quality of egg white was 92.0 HU (Haugh Unit), which was significantly higher than 84.8 HU, the quality of the control. The color of egg yolk significantly revealed more yellow than that of the control. Egg weight was increased by 7.5% after 15 days of feeding chlorella. Protein content was increased by 11.9% and 10.7% after 10 and 15 days of feeding, respectively. The major compositions of fatty acid content of egg yolk fed with chlorella diet were oleic acid, trans-linoleic acid, palmitic acid, ${\alpha}$-linolenic acid, stearic acid, DHA, EPA, palmitoleic acid, and heptadecanoic acid, respectively. Palmitoleic acid was decreased in the eggs fed with chlorella diet compared to the control. The Saturated Fatty Acid (SFA) content of the control was higher than that of the eggs fed with chlorella. The content of Unsaturated Fatty Acid (UFA) was higher in egg yolks fed with chlorella than in the control. The ratio of UFA to Saturated Fatty Acid (SFA) was higher in egg yolks fed with chlorella than in the control. These results suggest that the addition of chlorella to the feed of the laying hens brings positive effects on the improvement of egg quality and lowering of the Unsaturated Fatty Acid of egg yolk.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.121-131
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• 2006

This study was designed to determinate the effects of dried leftover food and green tea by-product on laying hens performance and egg quality in hens. A total of 210 "Tetran Brown" layers 50-weeks of age were assigned to 7 treatments in a completely randomized design. Each treatment had five replicates per treatment with six layers per replication. Seven dietary treatments were a control diet (formula diet) and dried leftover food (DLF) mixed in 10, 20, 30 and 40% to the control diet substituting the corn grain and soybean meal, control diet containing 1.0% GTB without DLF supplementation and control diet containing 30% DLF plus 1.0% GTB supplementation. The trial period was for 8 weeks. The egg production rate of layers was significantly increased in 10, 20 and 40% DLF treatments compared to that of the control treatment (P<0.05). The egg weight was significantly decreased in 10% DLF treatment compared to that of the control (P<0.05). The feed intake of layers was higher in 20% DLF and 30% DLF plus 1.0% GTB treatment than that of the control (P<0.05). The feed conversion ratio significantly decreased in 10% DLF and control plus 1.0% GTB treatments compared to that of the control (P<0.05). The egg yolk cholesterol not varied among the DLF and control treatments (P>0.05). However, the linolenic acid content of egg yolk was significantly increased in DLF and control treatments both containing 1.0% GTB supplementation.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.63-82
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• 2009

This review was conducted to the study on treatment of poultry waste by earthworms, and the effect of feeding earthworms meal on the performance of broilers and laying hens, and safety of meat and egg. 1. The pro-environmental chicken house was building in Daegu National University of Education, Daegu city, chicken wastes will be turn into high quality compost by vermicomposting uses earthworms in the house. 2. The earthworm meal (EWM) has a high proteinic content and a balanced amino acid and fatty acid profile, therefore most feeding applications has been evaluated with mono-gastric animals. 3. The dietary supplementations of 0.2 to 0.4% EWM were effective in improve digestibility of crude protein of diet resulted improved broiler performance in broiler chickens. 4. The supplementing 0.2 to 0.6% of earthworm meal in the laying hens diet, improves the laying performance and egg quality, especially ratio of egg yolk n-6/n-3 fatty acids contents. 5. As, Cd, Cr, Hg and Pb were detected at level of 4.41, 1.23, 1.18, 0.00 and 3.39ppm in earthworm meal, respectively, but those were not detected in the chicken meat and egg. therefore supplementing 0.6% of EWM in the chicken diet, it still did not affect meat and egg safety. 6. These results indicated that vermicompositing uses earthworms good a subject matter in the pro-environmental animal husbandry.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.815-823
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• 2014

Green tea has been known to show beneficial effects on alleviating stress. The present study was conducted to determine the effects of dietary green tea on quality of eggs, during storage, laid by laying hens treated with corticosterone in order to mimic the current practice of the egg market. Hens were fed for 2 weeks one of three diets containing green tea at 0.0, 0.4 or 1.0%. Each dietary group was divided into two subgroups receiving corticosterone at 0 or 30 mg/kg for 1 week. Eggs, laid at 5-7 days following the initiation of corticosterone treatment, were stored at $10^{\circ}C$ for 1 or 5 weeks and then analyzed for egg quality. After 1 week of storage, egg weight was significantly increased by green tea (p<0.025) but decreased by corticosterone (p<0.0001), but no interaction was observed between both. Corticosterone decreased shell color (p<0.0001) but green tea significantly decreased shell strength (p<0.006). Yolk color, albumen height and Haugh unit were not affected by both treatments. After 5 weeks of storage, corticosterone resulted in reduced egg weight (p<0.01) and eggshell color (p<0.001) and increased shell strength, which were not attenuated by green tea. Taken together, the results of the current study show that dietary corticosterone reduces egg quality during storage, which are attenuated in part by dietary green tea.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.255-262
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• 2006

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of dietary organic selenium levels on performance and selenium retention in broiler chickens and laying hens. In experiment 1, the effects of dietary organic selenium levels on the weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion, and selenium retention of meat and liver in broiler chickens were investigated. For each growth phase, the basal diet was supplemented with 0 (control), 0.60, 1.20, 1.80 and 2.40 ppm Se from selenium yeast(SY). Weight gain, feed intake, and feed conversion were not affected by the selenium addition in diets. Breast muscle Se levels were linearly increased (P<0.05) as dietary Se level increased by SY. Selenium concentration of liver tissue was increased (P<0.05) in supplemental SY compared to the control, and was increased (P<0.05) in supplemental 1.20, 1.80 and 2.40 ppm SY compared to the 0.60 ppm SY. In Experiment 2, 12-week-experiment using Hy-Line laying hens (68 wk of age) was conducted to examine the effects of dietary organic selenium on egg Production, egg weight, daily egg mass, feed intake, feed conversion, egg quality, and selenium concentration of eggs. A corn-soybean meal basal diet was supplemented with 0 (control), 0.30, 0.60, 0.90 and 1.20 ppm Se from selenium yeast (SY). Egg Production was significantly improved(P<0.05) in supplemental 0.30 and 0.90 ppm SY compared to the control and 0.60 ppm SY during week 1 to 12, but daily egg mass, feed intake, and feed conversion showed no difference in supplemental SY and control. Haugh unit, yolk color and eggshell breaking strength showed no difference in supplemental SY and control. Eggshell thickess was significantly (P<0.05) higher in supplemental 0.60 and 1.20 ppm SY compared to the 0.90 ppm SY in week 9. Egg Se levels were linearly increased (P<0.05) as dietary Se level increased by SY.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.77-83
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• 2009

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of the fermentation broth of fruits and vegetables and various kinds of lactobacillus containing in the broth on anti-microbial activity, anti-acidity, its organic acid concentrations and deorderization. In addition, the quality of eggs laid from the hens supplemented with the fermentation broth was determined. The fermentation broth contained over 8 kinds of lactobacillus and other microbes. Lactobacillus (L.) hilgardii, L. reuteri, L. nagelii, L. plantarum, and Zygosaccharomyces bisporus were survived especially in pH 2.0 among them. The concentrations of acetic acid and lactic acid in the broth were higher than minimum inhibitory concentration values (MIC) to Escherichia (E.) coli and Salmonella sp. Overall the broth contained sufficient organic acid to inhibit the growth of E. coli and Salmonella sp. In addition, L. nagelii and L. plantarum had the greatest anti-microbial activity against E. coli, Salmonella (S.) typhimurium, Staphylococcus aureus and S. gallinarium among lactobacillus in the broth. The broth had greater anti-microbial activity than individual lactobacillus. The fermentation broth had deodorization capacity of ammonia and hydrogen sulfate and the 50% of their concentrations were removed after 30 min treatment. Egg production rates, egg weight, and feed efficiency were increased in eggs laid from hens that supplemented with 0.1 % fermented broth compared to the control. The supplementation also increased the thickness and strength of egg shell to reduce broken eggs and decreased cholesterol levels in egg yolk. In conclusion, the fermentation broth of fruits and vegetables can be a natural alternative supplementation of feed in laying hens.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.157-163
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• 2007

To examine the effects of dietary organic selenium and vitamin E supplementation on egg production, egg weight, daily egg mass, feed intake, feed conversion, egg quality, lipid-soluble antioxidative capacity (ACL) in egg yolk, and selenium retention of egg in laying hens, Hy-Line laying hens of 77 wk old were replaced in the individual cage for 12 week. A corn-soybean meal based diet was supplemented with 0 (control), vitamin E 100 IU/kg and the combination of 0.9 ppm Se from selenium yeast (SY) and vitamin E 50, 100 and 150 IU/kg. Egg production and daily egg mass were significantly increased (P<0.05) in supplemental vitamin E 100 IU, and 0.9 ppm SY + vitamin E 50 IU than control for the whole experimental period. However, feed intake and feed conversion were not affected by supplemental vitamin E and SY. Haugh unit was significantly (P<0.05) higher in supplemental vitamin E 100 IU and 0.9 ppm SY + vitamin E 50 IU than control, 0.9 ppm SY + vitamin E 100 and 0.9 ppm SY + 150 IU in week 5. Haugh unit of the eggs during storage decreased significantly(P<0.05) from day 1 to day 11. However, Haugh units of the eggs from 0.9 ppm SY + vitamin E 150 IU treated groups did not decreased significantly until day 5. Yolk color was significantly (P<0.05) higher in 0.9 ppm SY + vitamin E 50 and 0.9 ppm SY + 100 IU than other treatment groups in week 1. Selenium concentrations of egg were significantly increased (P<0.05) in 0.9 ppm SY + vitamin E than control and vitamin E 100 IU groups. Lipid-soluble antioxidative capacity (ACL) in egg yolk was significantly (P<0.05) higher in supplemental combination of 0.9 ppm SY + vitamin E 150 IU when compared to those of other treatment groups.