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. 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. 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. Because the traditional method of determination of droppings digestibility coefficients of nitrogen may lead to systematic errors in estimating the feeding value of foodstuffs, a method is proposed to determine the ileal digestibility coefficients. The ileal method is compared with the droppings method for a mixed food and for two foodstuffs: wheat and solvent‐extracted soyabean meal.
3. Birds selected for efficient food conversion showed distinctly higher digestibility coefficients for all nutrients than birds selected for high growth potential or birds from a commercial strain.
4. The influence of age on digestibility coefficients was not consistent.
5. Female birds showed digestibility coefficients which were, in general, 3% higher than those of male chickens.
6. Interactions between genotype and sex and between genotype and age for energy metabolisability were the only interactions observed for digestibility measurements.
7. The method of determination influenced the amino acid digestibility coefficients of the mixed food and the relative feeding values of wheat and soyabean meal.
8. It is important to use well defined animals (genotype, sex, age) in evaluating foodstuffs.
9. The preferred method for determination of digestibility coefficients of nitrogen and amino acids is based on ileal sampling, although the differences in amino acid digestibility coefficients were small between methods. 相似文献
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. 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. Replacing groundnut oil cake (GNC) by Niger oil cake (NC) on an isonitrogenous basis, did not affect egg production, egg weight or the amount of food required per dozen eggs.
3. The percentage retention of nitrogen from diets containing 30% GNC or 30% NC was similar.
4. The ME value of NC used was 3025 kcal/kg.
5. It is concluded that NC can replace GNC in layers’ diets. 相似文献
2. Photoperiod treatments consisted of computer simulations of day lengths which occur naturally in the spring and autumn of the year. Both photoperiod treatments were given to hens in the autumn and spring.
3. Data were collected for growth evaluations at 2‐ to 4‐week intervals to 16 weeks of age. No significant season × photoperiod interactions occurred.
4. The spring trial resulted in greater body weights and better food conversions (food/gain) than the autumn trial.
5. Simulated autumn daylengths resulted in greater body weights and improved food efficiency at 16 weeks of age compared with simulated spring daylengths.
6. The pattern of growth (period changes) was influenced by season, but not photoperiod.
7. Season and photoperiod both have important and independent influences on the growth of the turkey hen. 相似文献
2. An Individual Poultry Weighing System (IPWS) was developed to record time, duration, location and body weight of visits of individual hens to 4 weighing scales.
3. The number of hens that visited the weighing scales per 3 h period varied from less than 10 during the dark‐period to more than 60 during the light‐period.
4. The average number of visits per individual hen was 1–4 and the average number of successful weighings per hen was 0–6 during the light‐period.
5. Body weight showed a diurnal rhythm: the difference between the maximum body weight at night and the minimum body weight in the morning was 63 g.
6. The location of the scales influenced number of visits, number of weighings, mean body weight, flock‐uniformity and duration of visits.
7. Body weight per 3 h period did not differ between hens which were individually recognised and those which were not.
8. Flock‐uniformity was 2–6% higher during the light‐period if it was based on weighings of identified hen visits.
9. The average duration of the visits to the scales in the middle of the feeding tier during the light‐period was 63 s.
10. Of all the hens that visited the scales during a 24 h period, 54% visited them only once.
11. Automatic weighing systems without individual hen recognition can deliver reliable management information on mean body weight and flock‐uniformity in aviary systems if the weighing scales are located on the feeding tier in the middle of the house and if they are used during the light‐period. 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. It was fed at 16 weeks of age to five separate groups (groups 2 to 6) each of 50 to 60 birds.
3. Group 2 was fed on a normal layers’ diet at 23 weeks of age, group 3 at 27 weeks, group 4 at 31 weeks, group 5 at 35 weeks and group 6 at 55 weeks while the control group (group 1) of similar size to groups 2 to 6 was subjected to a normal commercial treatment for laying stock.
4. In all the experimental groups the onset of sexual maturity occurred normally, but only one or two eggs were laid before laying ceased under the influence of the treatment.
5. Laying re‐started when the hens were fed on a normal diet and production rapidly rose to a high level.
6. Groups 1, 2 and 3 differed little in the total number of eggs produced up to 72 weeks of age.
7. In all experimental groups there were fewer very small, small and medium eggs than in the control group.
8. It is suggested that the use of a low‐calcium diet before the onset of lay may have advantages which could be exploited on a commercial scale. 相似文献
2. Very large egg batches are required to detect small improvements in the hatchability of good hatching strains.
3. Small‐scale laboratory studies on hatchability are best confined to strains and species of low hatchability in which larger between‐treatment differences may be expected.
4. The results of hatchability studies should always be subjected to tests of statistical significance.
5. There is a strong case for studying continuous variates in the laboratory before proceeding to large‐scale hatchability studies. 相似文献
2. More eggs were produced per hen housed from 30 to 70 weeks in the shallow cages; the difference approached significance.
3. The pattern of feeding activity over the day was significantly more U‐shaped in the shallow cages; this pattern accords more closely with physiological requirements.
4. Feather damage caused by pecking was slightly but significantly more severe in the deep cages at 70 weeks.
5. The proportion of cracked eggs (collected from 60 to 70 weeks) was significantly lower in the shallow cages.
6. The arrangement of the hens was such that within the shallow cages a higher proportion of birds was present in the front half.
7. It is suggested that some of the advantages conferred by the shallow cage may be related to the greater accessibility of the food trough. 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 extent of agreement between inspection and revision ranged between 83.2 and 86.2%.
3. Agreement between inspectors and revisors was higher for the category of approved birds than for the condemned category.
4. Differences in the criteria used to assess the birds were observed.
5. The conclusion was drawn that findings in meat inspection require further discussion to reach an agreed standard. 相似文献
2. In only one experiment was weight gain significantly improved when the barley was heated.
3. Autoclaving barley at 120 °C for 30 min reduced dietary dry matter digestibility and treating the barley with dilute acid before heating had no effect on its nutritive value.
4. Supplementing diets containing commercial barley with a‐amylase produced slightly conflicting results in that there was an improved weight gain, food conversion efficiency and digestibility value in two of three experiments.
5. The digestibility and metabolisable energy values of a North American six‐row spring barley (Glacier) were significantly improved by enzyme supplementation.
6. The effect of the enzyme on diets containing a high amylose barley (Glacier Pentlandfield) was positive but not significant. 相似文献
2. Changes in plasma cholesterol were equivocal, though there was perhaps a trend towards hypercholesteraemia.
3. Birds became hypoglycaemic within an hour but were hyper‐glycaemic between 2 and 4 h. At 24 h they were normoglycaemic.
4. Plasma corticosterone was increased markedly at 1 h but was decreased compared with the control at 2 h (P<0.01). Thereafter the concentration was in the normal range.
5. There was an enhanced hyperlipacidaemia in the treated birds after 1 h.
6. Adrenal cholesterol stores were decreased by 10% at 4 h but were unaffected at all other times.
7. Colonic temperature decreased by 1–6 °C after 2 h but was normal by4h.
8. It is concluded that propranolol has mild stressor activity which is lost within 24 h. 相似文献
2. Predation was higher in BA than HB.
3. Mortality through disease was higher in RIR than BA and HB.
4. Crossbred HB birds show the lowest combination of mortality and predation, suggesting a heterosis effect.
5. Mortality did not differ on farms and in field environments, suggesting an inability to improve biosecurity in farm conditions.
6. There was a positive relationship between eggshell strength and mortality. Calcium depletion from the birds’ bones, limiting foraging and escaping ability may be the explanation, which ultimately increases susceptibility to disease and predation. 相似文献
2. Oiling slowed the decline in albumen height (Haugh units) to that which occurred in unoiled eggs stored at 12 °C.
3. Oiling slowed the increase in albumen pH equally at 28 and 12 °C.
4. Oiling markedly decreased the weight loss of eggs stored at either temperature.
5. Oiling and temperature of storage were without effect on the whipping volumes of either albumen or unseparated albumen and yolk. 相似文献
2. No significant differences were found between genetic groups in hatchability.
3. Groups containing the fast‐hatching line genotypes were significantly smaller in egg weight than those not containing this line.
4. Significant differences in hatching time existed between male lines and between female lines within pure and cross‐line parent types while no differences were observed between the female parent types and no interactions of male by female lines occurred.
5. It was concluded that inbreeding in the pure lines (10%) did not affect any of the variables measured.
6. The results on hatching time support the conclusion that little genetic variance other than additive variance is involved for this trait. 相似文献