scholarly journals Effect of limestone particle size on egg production and eggshell quality of hens during late production

Author(s):  
F.H De Witt ◽  
N.P Kuleile ◽  
H.J Van der Merwe ◽  
M.D Fair
2015 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 301-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Świątkiewicz ◽  
A. Arczewska-Włosek ◽  
J. Krawczyk ◽  
M. Puchała ◽  
D. Józefiak

Abstract. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of particle size of a dietary Ca source on egg production and eggshell quality when added to hens' diets that have different levels of calcium. The experiment was carried out on 216 ISA Brown hens (25 to 70 weeks of age), allocated to 9 groups of 12 replicates (cages), with two birds in each cage. A 3 × 3 factorial arrangement was used, with three dietary levels of calcium (3.20, 3.70 and 4.20 %) and three levels of dietary substitutions (0, 25 and 50 %) of fine particles of limestone (FPL, diameter 0.2–0.6 mm) with large particles of limestone (LPL, diameter 1.0–1.4 mm) as a Ca source. The level of Ca in the diet had no effect on egg production, mean egg weight, feed intake, feed conversion ratio or eggshell quality parameters (P > 0.05). Substitution of FPL with LPL did not affect laying performance indices or eggshell quality at 30, 43 and 53 weeks of age (P > 0.05); however, it increased (P < 0.05) eggshell percentage, thickness, density and breaking strength in older hens (69 weeks of age). In conclusion, the results of this study demonstrated that a level of 3.20 % Ca in a layer's diet is sufficient through the entire laying cycle to maintain good egg production and eggshell quality and that partial (25 or 50 %) substitution of fine- with large-particle limestone can, irrespective of the level of Ca in the diet, improve eggshell quality in aged laying hens.


Animals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 2120
Author(s):  
Mohamed Ketta ◽  
Eva Tůmová ◽  
Michaela Englmaierová ◽  
Darina Chodová

The objective of this study was to evaluate hen performance and eggshell quality response to genotype, housing system, and feed calcium (Ca) level. For this purpose, an experiment was conducted on 360 laying hens of ISA Brown, Bovans Brown (commercial hybrids), and Moravia BSL (traditional Czech hybrid). Laying hens were kept in enriched cages and on littered floor and fed similar feed mixtures with different Ca content (3.00% vs. 3.50%). In terms of hen performance, ISA Brown had the highest egg production (84.2%) compared to Moravia BSL (74.3%) and Bovans Brown (71.4%). Regarding eggshell quality, Bovans Brown showed the highest values of all eggshell quality parameters. Increasing feed Ca level augmented egg production (p ≤ 0.001) but had no effect on other performance parameters. Except eggshell thickness, all eggshell quality parameters were affected by the three-way interaction of genotype, housing, and Ca. Bovans Brown, which had the strongest eggshells (5089 g/cm2) when housed on a littered floor system and fed 3.00% Ca, while Moravia BSL housed on a littered floor had the weakest eggshells (4236 g/cm2) at 3.50% Ca. The study pointed out the importance of the interactions between studied factors on performance and eggshell quality compared to an individual factor effect.


2016 ◽  
Vol 95 (11) ◽  
pp. 2570-2575 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.M. Fathi ◽  
A.E. El-Dlebshany ◽  
M. Bahie El-Deen ◽  
L.M. Radwan ◽  
G.N. Rayan

Author(s):  
Arzu Erol Tunç ◽  
Yusuf CUFADAR

An experiment was conducted to determine the effect of different combination calcium sources and particle size on performance and egg shell quality in layer hens. In the experiment, 198 brown laying hens at 44 week of age were randomly assigned into 11 treatments groups. The experimental diets consisted of different calcium sources (Fine limestone, large limestone, large oyster shell and large egg shell) and their different combination. The experimental unit consisted of a groups of three hens, thus each treatment was replicated six times. Different calcium sources and particle size addition to the laying hens diet had no significantly effect on body weight gain, egg production, egg mass, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, egg specific gravity, egg shell weight, egg shell thickness and egg shell breaking strength but egg weight had significantly affected by the treatments. The significantly highest egg weight was found in laying hens fed with 50 % fine limestone and 50 % large limestone. Dietary different Ca sources had a significant effect on Ca, P and Mg as mineral contents of eggshell and tibia. In the present study, when dietary large calcium sources (limestone, oyster shell and egg shell) had no effect on performance and eggshell quality parameters in laying hens. However, dietary containing at least 50 % large calcium sources had positive effect on mineral contents of tibia.


Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 47
Author(s):  
Joonbum Lee ◽  
Cameron McCurdy ◽  
Christopher Chae ◽  
Jinwoo Hwang ◽  
Madeline C. Karolak ◽  
...  

Recently developed myostatin (MSTN) mutant quail and chickens demonstrated similar effects of MSTN on muscle and fat developments between avian and mammalian species. However, the effect of MSTN mutation on the quality of eggshells, an important avian specific characteristic, has not yet been investigated although egg production traits of mutant quail have been studied. In this study, several parameters for eggshell quality, including eggshell size, eggshell weight, eggshell breaking strength (EBS), and eggshell thickness, were all compared between MSTN mutant and wild-type (WT) eggs. MSTN mutant eggs had greater height and width along with heavier eggshell weight compared to WT eggs, which shows proportional improvement in egg size as affected by the MSTN mutation. However, EBS and eggshell thickness were decreased in mutant eggs compared to WT eggs. In addition, the palisade layer, the thickest and most important layer for the strength of an eggshell, was also decreased without a change in the number of vesicular holes. These data indicated that decreases in the thickness of the eggshell and the palisade layer would be a main factor contributing to a lower EBS in mutant eggs. MSTN mutant quail provide a useful model to better understand the function of MSTN on avian uterine cell development and eggshell biomineralization.


2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 256-263
Author(s):  
M. A. Tion ◽  
P. C. Njoku

Two hundred and twenty four pullets of shaver Star Cross 579 x Hubbard Golden Comet, that were 30 weeks of age and laying at 50% hen day production, were utilized in a completely randomized design to assess the suitability of limestone sources (procured from different cement factories) for laying hen performance and eggshell quality. Oystershell and bone meal were used in the control diet. Results showed that there were no significant (P>0.05) differences between the treatment mean values for initial body weight of chicken, egg production. Feed per dozen eggs. Eggshell thickness and eggshell percentage. However. Feed intake. Final body weight and egg weight varied significantly (P<0.05) among diets. Generally, diets that produced numerically higher rate of egg production resulted in significantly (P<0.05) smaller egg weights.


Infectious bronchitis of chickens (IBC) is a highly contagious disease characterized by damage to the respiratory tract. Adult chickens exhibit respiratory symptoms, a 10-50% decrease in egg production, discoloration of the eggshell, deformation of the shell, and a deterioration in the marketability and breeding quality of eggs. The circulation of variant strains in poultry farms of the Russian Federation causes a significant decrease in egg production and the quality of the eggs obtained, causing significant economic damage to industrial poultry farming. The study aimed to presents materials and methods for the industrial and efficient use of live-vaccines against infectious bronchitis of hens from a variant strain. After the use of a live vaccine against infectious bronchitis of chickens from a variant strain, the development, live weight of chickens, and feed conversion during the rearing period were within the standard parameters. in present study, the safety for the growing period with a planned 97.6% was 98.8-98.9%. The uniformity of the herds when transferred to hen - hen was 94-95%. When carrying out immunoprophylaxis of IBS, local immunity is important, which can be ensured using a live spray vaccine - a method starting from the day old. When establishing circulation in the economy of variant strains of IBC virus, it is necessary to introduce vaccination against the variant strain into the scheme of treatment and preventive measures. The research results allow us to conclude that, for the effective prevention of chicken infectious bronchitis, immunization against IBS from variant strains should be introduced into the vaccine prevention scheme.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 5317
Author(s):  
Sonja Simić ◽  
Jovana Petrović ◽  
Dušan Rakić ◽  
Biljana Pajin ◽  
Ivana Lončarević ◽  
...  

Sugar beet pulp (SBP) is a by-product of the sugar industry in which the dietary fiber content ranges from 73% to 80%. Compared to cereal fibers mainly used in biscuit production, sugar beet fibers are gluten free and have a perfect ratio of 2/3 insoluble fiber. In this work, sugar beet pulp was extruded with corn grits (ratios of corn grits to sugar beet pulp in extrudates were 85:15, 70:30, and 55:45), and the obtained sugar beet pulp extrudates (SBPEs) were used for improving the nutritional quality of cookies. The wheat flour in cookies was replaced with SBPEs in the amount of 5, 10, and 15%. The influence of three factors (the percentage of sugar beet pulp in the SBPEs, the size of the SBPE particles, and the percentage of wheat flour substituted with SBPEs) and their interactions on the nutritional quality of cookies, as well as their physical and sensory characteristics are examined using the Box–Behnken experimental design. The addition of extruded sugar beet pulp (SBPEs) significantly increased the amount of total dietary fiber and mineral matter of cookies. On the whole, the addition of SBPEs increased cookie hardness, but the hardness decreased with an increase in extrudate particle size. Sensory characteristics (except for the taste) were the most influenced by extrudate particle size.


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