2. Hens of the population with the high incidence of whitening appeared to be more fearful than hens of the population with the low incidence of whitening.
3. Brown colouration of the egg shell and the incidence and degree of shell whitening declined as the hens aged.
4. Brown colouration and egg shell whitening were most pronounced on the blunt ends of the eggs.
5. A large part of the variation in egg shell whitening was attributable to the individual (hen) component of variance.
6. Differences in egg shell whitening, between the two populations, were detectable throughout the 26 weeks of the experiment.
7. Oviposition intervals were similar for normal and coated eggs when birds were not exposed to disturbance.
8. Disturbance of hens increased oviposition intervals and the incidence and degree of shell whitening, to a similar extent, in both populations.
9. It is concluded that stress‐related egg retention is not the sole factor responsible for abnormal egg shell whitening. Shell whitening may occur as a consequence of the premature termination of shell pigmentation as well as a consequence of the retardation of oviposition which occurs when hens are disturbed. 相似文献
2. The response in shell thickness to ahemeral lighting was more rapid (2.2 d) than for egg weight (4.2 d).
3. Differences between genotypes were evident in both the speed and magnitude of response.
4. Overall, egg weight and shell thickness on the 28‐h cycle were 7% and 8% greater than on 24 h.
5. The allometric increase indicates that the increase in shell weight was on average 14% more than the increase in egg weight. 相似文献
2. Higher rates of fertility and hatchability of Japanese quail eggs were observed from parents of 10 to 19 weeks of age, with peak fertility and hatchability at 14 and 12 weeks of age, respectively.
3. Sex ratios of 1:2 to 1:5 gave comparable fertility and hatchability results.
4. The hatching performance of quail eggs from cage and deep litter reared breeders was comparable.
5. Fertility and hatchability were directly proportional to the egg weight.
6. Quail egg shell colour, tints and blotches were found to influence hatching performance.
7. Storing quail eggs at 16 ± 2°C and 75 ± 5% relative humidity for more than 4 d reduced hatchability.
8. Hatchability of eggs stored at room temperature was improved if they were sealed in polyethylene bags.
9. Provision of light during the first 14 d of incubation resulted in a photo‐acceleration of about 3.2 h. 相似文献
2. The water vapour conductance of fowl and Muscovy duck egg shells was not affected by the treatment.
3. Cuticle removal increased the conductance of turkey and goose shells, particularly those already relatively porous to water vapour.
4. Removal of cuticles from domestic duck egg shells increased water vapour conductance. In this case the effect was most marked for eggs with lower initial conductances.
5. The differing patterns of resistance to water vapour loss associated with egg shell cuticle are related to the ultrastructure of the cuticle itself, especially the number and size of cuticular fissures.
6. The results suggest that egg shell cuticle is a component in a series of resistances associated with the egg shell and that the use of Fick's Law is insufficient to explain water vapour diffusion across the shell.
7. Embryo survival may be improved by cuticle removal, though this may be limited to those species in which the cuticle restricts water vapour loss in initially low conductance egg shells. 相似文献
2. Rocking embryo cultures during the first half of incubation enhanced embryo growth.
3. Embryos explanted into ‘surrogate’ eggshells of either other individuals or other species have been successfully ‘hatched’.
4. A normal chorioallantois is formed in these surrogate eggshells. This enables a functional albumen sac to form and eggshell resorption to be achieved.
5. Embryos grown in ‘surrogate’ eggshells are slightly smaller than controls but otherwise normal.
6. The technique provides opportunities for genetic engineering experiments. 相似文献
2. Shell strength, assessed by any of the methods, was relatively low in eggs collected at 10.00 h and was generally successively greater in those collected at 12.00, 14.00 or 16.00 h. Over the same period egg weight decreased.
3. These time‐related changes in shell strength were similar for the two production ages despite the difference in shell quality due to age.
4. No consistent significant differences were observed between strains in time of oviposition. 相似文献
2. Body weight gain, age at 50% egg production, mortality, hen‐day egg production and food conversion values showed significant improvement with proportionate increase in cage space per layer.
3. Egg weight gradually increased with age but shell thickness was influenced neither by age of the hen nor by stocking density.
4. Yolk index and colour were superior in the lowest stocking density (more cage space) group; other egg quality traits and egg weight were not influenced by stocking density.
5. The albumen index, internal quality unit, yolk index and yolk colour values increased with age. 相似文献
2. Breeder hens fed ad libitum and subjected to either conventional or intermittent lighting ingested respectively, 25 g and 14 to 17 g more than hens restricted to 115 g/d.
3. Body weight was greater in hens fed ad libitum irrespective of the lighting pattern and of the amount of food intake.
4. Persistency of egg production was impaired by intermittent lighting.
5. Ad libitum feeding reduced egg fertility. The decrease was larger in breeder hens on intermittent lighting.
6. Hatchability was increased in hens submitted to the symmetrical lighting pattern (0.5L:3.5d).
7. Egg and chick weights were higher in hens fed ad libitum.
8. Shell index and shell breaking strength increased in restricted hens on the intermittent lighting pattern (0.5L:3.5d) × 6.
9. The best performance was obtained in restricted hens on the conventional lighting pattern. 相似文献
2. Hens received an adequate conventional layers’ diet and the lighting pattern was conventional (17 L:7 D). Observations were made early (31 to 40 weeks) and late (62 to 68 weeks of age) in the laying period.
3. Eggs were classified by position in the clutch sequence and significant negative correlations were found between shell weights of early eggs in the sequence and plasma phosphate at the end of the dark period.
4. No significant trends were found in plasma total calcium.
5. No significant differences were found in bone compositions of birds producing consistently more or less than average shell weight during the laying period.
6. The negative correlations between plasma phosphate and shell weight are consistent with the observations of Sauveur and Mongin (1983) and show that impairment of shell deposition is associated with skeletal mobilisation as indicated by increase in plasma phosphate. This is consistent with the observations on bone composition and indicates that selection for shell quality will tend to select birds which are not dependent on excessive skeletal mobilisation during shell formation. 相似文献
2. Deformation was not completely reversible due to crumbling at the points of contact with the force.
3. There are three components of non‐destructive deformation: (a) local deformation at the points of contact, (b) local surface crumbling and (c) deformation of the over‐all shell structure.
4. The latter two are uncontrolled, contributing to errors in the prediction of fracture force and depending on the non‐destructive force applied.
5. These effects should be considered in test selection and interpretation.
6. The optimum non‐destructive force was found to be 1 kg. 相似文献
2. The Sinai egg was smaller and its shell thicker and stronger than the Leghorn egg. All the differences were statistically significant.
3. Shell thickness and strength of Leghorn eggs were in accordance with values predicted on the basis of egg mass, while those of the Sinai and the two crosses were considerably higher than predicted.
4. The apparent differences in mean egg mass between Sinai and Leghorn breeds did not explain the differences in egg‐shell quality, neither did the shape index which was very similar among all breeds.
5. The findings suggest that the differences in egg‐shell properties are of a genetic origin.
6. The thick, strong and less permeable egg‐shell of the Sinai breed may reflect adaptations to its arid environmental origin and to incubation in the open.
7. These genetically‐determined egg‐shell characteristics might serve in a future selection for improved egg‐shell quality in poultry. 相似文献
2. Total water content of the mucosa before shell calcification was 4.8 kg/kg dry weight (dw) and rose to 6.6 kg/kg dw during shell formation; 60% of the increase was intracellular and 40% extracellular.
3. The potassium concentration of the mucosa remained constant during egg formation.
4. Chloride was removed constantly from the mucosal cells during egg formation.
5. A model was constructed for the glandular cells which depicts them as primarily NaHCO3‐secreting cells towards the luminal side and HC1‐secreting cells towards the serosal side, their main function being to provide CO2‐ 3 for shell formation. In this model, the columnar mucosal cells are responsible for the calcium used in shell formation. 相似文献
2. Hyperphagia, amounting to twice the intake of control birds early in the experiment, occurred on the repletion day.
3. Final body weight attained 80% of that of the controls.
4. Body fat concentration decreased at first but returned to that of controls after 3 weeks.
5. A consistent hyperlipaemia was observed after food deprivation or restoration.
6. There was a marked increase in the digestive enzymes found in the small intestine, but not in the pancreas during the repletion day.
7. These responses may be considered as mechanisms to reduce the physiological manifestations of starvation. 相似文献
2. A and B malformations are those seen in, respectively, an egg that is held in the shell gland for an abnormally long period and one that reaches the shell gland while an A‐egg is still there; many of the eggs recorded as rough‐shelled were probably A‐eggs for which the corresponding B‐eggs had been lost.
3. The birds were of three strains: a medium‐body‐weight brown‐egg‐laying strain and a White Leghorn strain, both of commercial origin, and a laboratory strain of Brown Leghorns.
4. The incidences of egg malformation in the three strains were 8.3, 9.2 and 0.5%.
5. A‐, B‐ and rough‐shelled eggs constituted more than two‐thirds of all malformed eggs.
6. Evidence from two generations suggests that these malformations have a high heritability. 相似文献
2. Gizzard weight and intestine length were significantly increased by increased dietary fibre.
3. Efficiency of food conversion decreased but egg production, egg weight, shell breaking strength and mortality were not affected by dietary sunflower meal. 相似文献
2. Sulphanilamide appeared to act mainly by reducing the rate of shell deposition, time spent in the shell gland was unaffected.
3. The thickness of shell components was reduced in a roughly proportional manner in thin shells produced during sulphanilamide treatment.
4. It is proposed that other thin shells in which the component layers are all reduced to a similar extent are also the result of a decreased deposition rate. 相似文献
2. Shell formation began 9–5 to 11 h after the oviposition of the previous egg, increased linearly for 13 h and then plateaued at 1–5 h before oviposition.
3. The variation in egg shell quality observed in two experimental groups of hens was 75% attributable to differences in the rate of shell deposition and 25% attributable to difference in the duration of shell deposition.
4. The mean interval between ovipositions increased with age but neither shell weight, nor rate or duration of shell depositon were affected. The increase in egg weight with age accounted for the decrease in shell quality.
5. Intervals between ovipositions were positively correlated with the duration of shell formation, especially its latter stages.
6. Egg production was negatively correlated with the interval between ovipositions but not with the duration or rate of shell deposition. There was a negative correlation between duration and rate of shell deposition, except in the case of the hens producing eggs of poor shell quality. 相似文献
2. The volume of water taken up by eggs that had been sanitised was significantly (P < 0.001) greater than that taken up by the control eggs. The volume of water taken up by the sanitised eggs increased as the flock age increased, whereas water uptake was maximal for the control eggs at 42 weeks of age.
3. There was no correlation between water uptake values and shell thickness or egg weight for either the sanitised or control eggs.
4. Sanitised eggs tended to dominate the “poor cuticle quality” category at all flock ages, when a subjective assessment of cuticle quality was made using the stain Edicol Supra Pea Green.
5. Egg sanitising did not affect shell reflectance values, shell thickness or the percentage of cracked shells.
6. When flock age reached 49 weeks of age, the sanitising process significantly (P < 0.001) reduced hatchability. 相似文献
2. The data conformed to a mixed model and adjustments were made for the fixed effects sex, hatch date and location. Adjustment improved the precision of the estimates by reducing the error variances significantly.
3. Rearing equal numbers of birds from each family at different locations made the interactions negligible.
4. Weight gain was greater if illumination intensity up to 35 d was less.
5. Females were not heavier on the 1st day but were heavier on the 14th and 35th days than males.
6. Variance components and genetic parameters were estimated. 相似文献
2. Egg, yolk, albumen and shell plus membrane weights increased, whereas the egg shape, specific gravity and shell thickness decreased between 49 and 154 days of age.
3. Yolk, albumen and shell plus membrane comprised 32–59%, 53–57% and 7–80%, respectively of the total egg weight.
4. Regression between the quail's age and the characteristics of eggs were derived and correlation coefficients ranged from —0–42 to — 0–86. The albumen weight was more highly correlated with egg weight than yolk weight.
5. Relationships were also derived between egg shape and specific gravity, and egg shape and albumen weight.
6. It was concluded that the eggs’ characteristics were modified as the quails aged, and the best criterion of the shell's strength was the egg shape. 相似文献