scholarly journals The effects of housing systems and age of hens on the weight and cholesterol concentration of the egg

2008 ◽  
Vol 52 (No. 4) ◽  
pp. 110-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ľ. Zemková ◽  
J. Simeonovová ◽  
M. Lichovníková ◽  
K. Somerlíková

The effects of laying hen age and the housing of laying hens in conventional cages, enriched cages, litter system and outdoor system on egg weight and yolk and egg cholesterol concentration were studied. ISA brown laying hens were used in the experiment. The characteristics were measured at 39, 50, 59, 68 and 75 weeks of age. Fifteen eggs were always collected from each housing system. In total, 300 eggs were analyzed. There were not any significantly different results in the eggs from the hens living in the different housing systems or from the age of laying hens on the weight of eggs. But the housing system and the age of hens had a significant (<i>P</i> &le; 0.01) effect on both yolk and egg cholesterol concentration. The concentration of yolk and egg cholesterol was the lowest (<i>P</i> &le; 0.01) in the enriched cages (12.5 mg/g yolk and 211.2 mg/egg) and the highest in the litter technology (14.1 mg/g yolk and 242.6 mg/egg). Further, there was a significant (<i>P</i> &le; 0.01) influence of the interaction between the housing system and the age of hens on egg weight and on yolk and egg cholesterol concentration.

2017 ◽  
Vol 63 (No. 1) ◽  
pp. 11-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Ketta ◽  
E. Tumova

The objective of the present study was to compare the eggshell characteristics and cuticle deposition of Lohmann Brown, Hy-Line Silver Brown, and Isa Brown layers kept in two different housing systems. The three laying hen genotypes were housed in enriched cages (100 hens, 750 cm<sup>2</sup>/hen, 10 hens/cage) and in littered pens (100 hens, 9 hens/m<sup>2</sup>, 10 hens/pen). The experiment was carried out in weeks 40–56 of hens age. Non-significant interactions of genotype and housing system for eggshell quality parameters and cuticle deposition were detected in this study. Egg weight was significantly affected by genotype (P ≤ 0.001) and housing system (P ≤ 0.043). The heaviest eggs were laid by Lohmann Brown, while the lightest eggs were produced by Hy-Line Silver Brown. Eggshell strength was not affected by genotype and housing system, however, genotype had a significant effect on eggshell thickness (P ≤ 0.033). Isa Brown eggs had thicker eggshells compared to Lohmann Brown and Hy-Line Silver Brown. However, a non-significant effect of housing system on eggshell thickness was observed. Eggshell percentage was significantly affected by both genotype and housing system. Genotype of laying hens had a significant effect on cuticle deposition; significantly higher cuticle deposition was observed in Lohmann Brown eggs (P ≤ 0.001). It could be concluded that genotype had a significant effect on eggshell quality parameters and cuticle deposition. However, the housing system effect was less important in these characteristics.


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 541-556 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zofia Sokołowicz ◽  
Józefa Krawczyk ◽  
Magdalena Dykiel

Abstract The present study investigated the effect of the type of alternative housing system, and genotype and age of laying hens on physical traits of egg shell and contents. It was demonstrated that alternative housing system type influenced egg weight and shape, and eggshell color and yolk color intensity. Eggs from free-range system were heavier and were characterized by more intense yolk color. No effect of alternative housing system type on albumen height, value of Haugh units (HU value) and presence of meat and blood spots was noted. Hen genotype had a significant effect on egg weight and eggshell color intensity in each of the alternative housing systems tested in this study. Hy-line Brown hens laid heavier eggs than hens of native breeds. Genotype was also observed to affect egg content traits (albumen height, HU values and presence of meat and blood spots). Independently of the type of alternative housing system, most blood and meat spots were noted in eggs of hens laying brown-shelled eggs, i.e. R-11 and Hy-line Brown layers. Laying hen age significantly impacted on egg weight, yolk percentage, eggshell traits (color intensity, weight, thickness and strength) and egg content traits (HU value, yolk weight and color intensity, presence of meat and blood spots). Older hens laid heavier eggs with a greater yolk percentage but with thinner eggshell.


2011 ◽  
Vol 50 (No. 3) ◽  
pp. 129-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Tůmová ◽  
T. Ebeid

Two experiments were carried out to investigate the effect of the time of oviposition on egg quality characteristics in two different housing systems (cages vs. litter). ISA brown hens from 20 to 64 weeks of age were housed in battery cages (550 cm<sup>2</sup>/hen, 19 526 laying hens in the house) and on deep litter (7 hen/m<sup>2</sup>, 4 652 laying hens in the house). In both houses, eggs were collected daily at three oviposition times 06:00, 10:00 and 14:00 h. Every four weeks, 90 eggs for each house (30 eggs for each oviposition time) were used for egg quality assessment. The results indicated that in cages the highest percentages (P &le; 0.001) of normal (74.47%), non-standard (0.85%) and cracked (1.80%) eggs were laid in the early morning (06:00 h). On deep litter, however, the highest percentages (P &le; 0.05) of normal sound eggs were produced at10:00 h (35.43%) and at14:00 h (33.03%). In the cage system, the heaviest eggs (63.01 g) were laid in the early morning (06:00 h) and the highest shell percentage (10.33%) was in eggs laid in the afternoon and also at 10:00 h (10.31%). On the other hand, in the litter housing system, the time of oviposition had no significant effect on egg weight and eggshell quality characteristics except for shell thickness. Morning eggs had greater shell thickness (0.398 mm) than afternoon eggs (0.390 mm). In cages and on litter, statistically significant differences in albumen height, albumen index and Haugh Units were observed between early morning eggs and afternoon eggs and data showed a pattern of relatively higher albumen quality for eggs collected in the afternoon in both systems. &nbsp;


2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 279-295
Author(s):  
O. A. Ogunwole,

Egg quality and durability have been directly linked to the nutrition of laying hen thus, the effects of five different supplemental vitamin-mineral premixes (VmP) in the diets of laying hens housed in battery cage (BC) and deep litter (DL) on the egg properties and shelf life stability in 0, 7, 14, 21 and 28 days of egg storage (DOS) were investigated in this study. In a 4-week feeding trial, Bovans Nera Black laying hens (n=480) aged 71-week were allocated to five treatments in each housing system (HS) (BC and DL). Each treatment was replicated six times and a replicate comprised eight hens. The basal isocaloric and isonitrogenous diet was appropriately supplemented with 0.25% of any of the five proprietary VmP and the diets were offered with water ad libitum to respective experimental hens in both HS. The experiment was a 2x5x5 factorial arrangement in a completely randomized design (2 HS X 5VmP X 5DOS). Foaming capacity, foaming stability, viscosity, emulsion stability, least gelation concentration and shelf life stability of egg white and whole egg from both HS decreased significantly (P<0.05)in DOS while the thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS mg/MA/100g) increased in DOS. The TBARS of respective whole and egg white from hens fed VmP1 (0.048 and 0.051), 2 (0.049 and 0.054), 3(0.056 and 0.155), 4(0.156 and 0.156) and 5 (0.153 and 0.151) differed significantly (P<0.05). Interactions of HS X VmP, HS X DOS on all attributes of both whole and egg white, except specific gravity and emulsion capacity, were significantly different (P<0.05). Eggs deteriorated in DOS irrespective of dietary VmP or HS but much more for eggs from DL compared with BC.  


2010 ◽  
Vol 79 (9) ◽  
pp. S29-S34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miroslav Macháček ◽  
Vladimír Večerek ◽  
Nora Mas ◽  
Pavel Suchý ◽  
Eva Straková ◽  
...  

The aim of this study was to assess the effects of two levels of clinoptilolite administered in feed (2% and 4%) on some selected performance indicators, metabolic utilization of basic nutrients and the health status of laying hens. The selected 24 Bovans Goldline hybrid laying hens were divided into three equal groups, two experimental groups (E1 and E2) and one control group (C). The laying hens were housed individually in cages with an automatic supply of drinking water, manual feeding, in a setting with controlled light and temperature regimens. Hens from individual groups were all fed a complete feed mix of the same composition and the only difference was in clinoptilolite supplementation: feed mixes for E1 and E2 groups contained 2% and 4% of clinoptilolite (commercial additive ZeoFeed) respectively, replacing the same amounts of wheat. The hens received feed mixes and drinking water ad libitum. During this 28-day experiment, feed consumption and the number and weight of eggs laid were monitored individually for each hen. At the end of the experiment, the balance test using the indicator method (Cr2O3) was performed in all eight hens in each of the groups. The results of balance tests were then used to calculate the metabolic utilization of selected nutrients (nitrogen, fat, ash, nitrogen-free extracts, starch, gross energy, Ca, P). After the balance tests, blood samples for haematological and biochemical examinations were collected via puncture of the vena basilica. The addition of 2% clinoptilolite to feed mix resulted in a highly significant (P ⪬ 0.01) increase in mean egg weight to 64.69 g, but the addition of 4% clinoptilolite in group E2 resulted in a highly significant (P ⪬ 0.01) decrease in mean egg weight to 62.20 g compared to the control (63.73 g). Moreover, daily feed mix consumption in group E1 decreased to 114 g per one laying hen/day compared to the controls (118 g per one laying hen/day). In group E2 (4% clinoptilolite), daily consumption of feed mix increased compared with the controls to 124 g. The 2% clinoptilolite supplementation of E1 group feed slightly increased metabolic utilization of fat, nitrogen-free extracts, starch and gross energy compared to group C. Results of haematological test of the hens’ blood showed significant changes in haemoglobin, whose values in groups C and E1 were significantly higher (P ⪬ 0.05) than in group E2. Differences in the values of the biochemical indicators monitored (total protein, glucose, cholesterol, triacylglycerols, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium and the AST enzyme) between group C and experimental groups E1 and E2 were not significant and remained within the range of reference values.


2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 257 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Kismiati ◽  
T. Yuwanta ◽  
Z. Zuprizal ◽  
S. Supadmo ◽  
U. Atmomarsono

The aim of this research was to evaluate calcium deposition in egg using eggshell flour as a limestone substitute in feed. Two hundreds laying hen of Isa Brown strain of 25 weeks were used in this study. Treatments were diet with 7.5% limestone as control (T0), 2.5% limestone is substituted with eggshell flour(T1), 5% limestone is substituted with eggshell flour (T2) and limestone is substituted with eggshell flour (T3). A completly randomized design were used to allocated the treatments with 5 replications of each. Each experimental unit consists of 10 laying hens. Parameters measured were egg weight, yolk weight, albumen weight, eggshell weight, calcium of egg (yolk, albumen and eggshell), length, weight and Ca of tibia bone. The results showed that substitution of limestone with eggshell flour had significantly effect (P<0.05) on eggshell weight, Ca deposition on yolk, albumen, and Ca of tibia bone but non significantly effect on egg weight, weight and percentage of yolk, weight and percentage of albumen, percentage and Ca of eggshell, length and weight of tibia bone. In conclusion, calcium deposition in yolk was the highest in the use of 7.5% eggshell flour to substitute limestone but obtained the lowest Ca of bone , while calcium deposition in albumen was the highest in the use of 2.5% eggshell flour.


2007 ◽  
Vol 23 (5-6-1) ◽  
pp. 497-502 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Peric ◽  
N. Milosevic ◽  
N. Tolimir ◽  
D. Zikic

The aim of this work was to present the production results of laying hens kept in different housing systems - conventional cages with different stocking densities, enriched cages or in houses with a range. The used hybrid was Shaver 579 (564 birds). The main production parameters were monitored: No. of laid eggs, laying percentage, mortality rate, feed intake, egg weight and number of culled eggs. Data were analyzed by ANOVA followed by t-test. Main production parameters in production of table eggs were significantly different depending on the housing system. The best results were realized in cage system with lower housing density, and the worst results in hens housed in floor system on free range.


2017 ◽  
Vol 62 (No. 9) ◽  
pp. 377-383 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Tůmová ◽  
J. Vlčková ◽  
D. Chodová

The differences in egg production traits in six laying hen genotypes (brown-egg hens Bovans Brown, Bovans Sperwer, ISA Sussex; white-egg hen Dekalb White; laying hens with tinted shells Moravia Barred and Moravia BSL) and the interactions of genotype and oviposition on egg quality were evaluated. The genotype affected the laying rate (P ≤ 0.003), mean sequence length (P ≤ 0.001), and time of oviposition (P ≤ 0.001). The brown-egg genotypes laid eggs approximately 1 h earlier than the white-egg genotypes and approximately 2 h earlier than the tinted-egg genotypes. Egg shell strength was the lowest in tinted-egg genotypes (P ≤ 0.001) and declined with the time of oviposition (P ≤ 0.002). Egg shell percentage (P ≤ 0.011) and thickness (P ≤ 0.011) were affected by the interaction of genotype and oviposition. None of the effects affected egg weight; however, the proportion of egg components was significantly influenced by the interaction of genotype and oviposition. The study confirmed that the differences in the egg production and egg quality of various genotypes are associated with the laying pattern.


Animals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 2450
Author(s):  
Zofia Sokołowicz ◽  
Magdalena Dykiel ◽  
Jadwiga Topczewska ◽  
Józefa Krawczyk ◽  
Anna Augustyńska-Prejsnar

This study investigated the welfare of laying hens in different non-caged housing systems, namely a deep-litter barn system (BS), a free-range system (FRS) and an organic system (OS). The study was conducted on 270 hens of a native breed Green-legged Partridge (Z-11) and 270 Hy-Line Brown hybrids. Visual scans were performed to record behaviour of hens. Hens were housed in groups of 30 and observed over the course of one day at 20, 36 and 56 weeks of age. Dustbathing, scratching, wing stretching, wing flapping and preening were recorded as comfort behaviours. Pecking, fighting, threatening and chasing were recorded as agonistic behaviours. The percentage of run use was higher in native hens than in commercial hens (p < 0.05). The proportion of hens exhibiting comfort behaviours housed in the FRS and OS was similar but over twice as high as in the BS (p < 0.05). In the FRS and OS, the percentage of hens displaying comfort behaviours increased with age (p < 0.05). In all the production systems, the percentage of birds displaying comfort behaviours was higher in native breed hens than in commercial breeds (p < 0.05). In the BS, the higher proportion of hens displaying an agonistic behaviour was seen more in commercial breed than in the native breed hens (p < 0.05). The percentage of birds displaying an agonistic behaviour declined with hen age, both in commercial and native breed hens.


2018 ◽  
Vol 63 (No. 2) ◽  
pp. 51-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Vlčková ◽  
E. Tůmová ◽  
M. Ketta ◽  
M. Englmaierová ◽  
D. Chodová

Hens of the laying hybrid ISA Brown were used in the study with the objective to evaluate eggshell quality, microbial contamination of eggshells, and penetration of microorganisms into the egg content in different housing systems (enriched cage: 60 hens, 10 hens per cage, 750 cm<sup>2 </sup>per hen vs free range: 60 hens, 9 hens per m<sup>2</sup>) and at different hen ages (26 vs 51 weeks) during storage time (0, 2, 7, 14, and 21 days). A significant interaction between the housing system and age was observed in egg weight and most of eggshell quality measurements. However, microbial contamination and penetration were affected mostly by the housing system and storage time. The numbers of Escherichia coli (P &lt; 0.001, 4.51 vs 2.75 log cfu/eggshell) and Enterococcus (P &lt; 0.001, 2.56 vs 1.11 log cfu/eggshell), and the total number of microorganisms (P &lt; 0.001, 5.04 vs. 3.65 log cfu/eggshell) were higher in free range eggs compared to enriched cage eggs, respectively. The counts of Escherichia coli (P &lt; 0.001, 4.23 vs 2.91 log cfu/eggshell) and Enterococcus (P &lt; 0.001, 2.31 vs 1.27 log cfu/eggshell) decreased with storage time. A positive correlation between the total number of pores and penetration of Escherichia coli in both housing systems was observed in the albumen. It can be concluded that the housing system and age of laying hens significantly affected eggshell quality. Microbial contamination presumably affects the penetration of microorganisms. The correlation between the number of pores and penetration is assumed to be affected by the microbial species.


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