Infections of avian influenza virus (AIV) in turkey breeder hens can cause a decrease in both egg production and quality, resulting in significant production losses. In North Carolina in 2003, a triple-reassortant H3N2 AIV containing human, swine, and avian gene segments was isolated from turkey breeder hens (A/turkey/NC/16108/03). This viral subtype was subsequently isolated from both turkeys ...

were supplemented with 40 ppm T4 for 10 days. Of the 3 treatment groups, 1 was maintained under a 14-h light schedule and fed breeders’ diet while the 2 others were subjected to a drop in photoperiod to 6 h during or after supplementation, and were then fed a maintenance diet. Egg production, feed intake, body weight, molt and plasma levels of T4 were measured. All treated hens ceased laying wi...

The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of four different levels of dietary probiotic (protexin) on productive traits and egg quality of broiler breeder hens. One hundred sixty female 64-week-old broiler breeders (Hubbard classic) were involved in this experiment. The birds were randomly assigned to control Group A (unsupplemented diet), Group B (0.25% protexin supplemented d...

introduction under commercial conditions broiler are feed restricted during rearing to limit growth rate. this quantitative restriction of feed intake aims at avoiding rapid growth and high body weights, which are associated with pathological conditions, such as ascites, lameness, and mortality. feed restriction (fr) in breeder layer hens was rarely and fr used for poor reproductive results and...

Before any significant progress can be made in altering textural characteristics of a meat product, the basic profile of the meat and the possible alterations in that profile due to processing procedures must be known. A number of papers have been published addressing ways to optimize the textural characteristics of broiler breast meat. Changes in broiler processing procedures and processing ti...

Campylobacter are known to cause acute bacterial gastroenteritis in humans. Poultry products have been implicated as a significant source of these infections. Six experiments were performed to determine whether Campylobacter could be isolated naturally from the primary and secondary lymphoid organs, liver/gallbladder, and ceca of commercial broiler breeder hens. Broiler breeder hens were acquir...

The effects of dietary vitamin A supplementation on reproductive performance, liver function, fat-soluble vitamin retention, and immune response were studied in laying broiler breeders. In the first phase of the experiment, 1,120 Ross-308 broiler breeder hens were fed a diet of corn and soybean meal supplemented with 5,000 to 35,000 IU/kg vitamin A (retinyl acetate) for 20 weeks. In the second ...

conditions throughout the test. The hens were provided nutrients to meet the needs of all the hens based upon compilation of the breeder recommendations. The eggs from these strains were collected every 28 days from the previous 24 hrs production. Once collected the quality and compositional properties of the eggs such as pH, solids, whipping height, Haugh units and angel food cakes were evalua...

The continuous improvement of quality of animal products and the animals themselves is one of the responsibilities we share as geneticists. As increases in human populations increase worldwide, the pressure to increase production of foodstuffs becomes more and more intense. Most notably, we have focused a tremendous effort at improving production of domestic animals. Among the meat-animal speci...