Because dietary nitrogen intake affects nitrogen content in manure, diet management has been recognized as a means to reduce ammonia emissions from poultry operations. The objectives of the present research were 1) to determine the extent to which the CP content of laying diets can be reduced, based on performance criteria, and 2) to determine how ash:nitrogen ratios of manure, eggs, and hens a...

The objectives of the current study were to evaluate the effect of feeding diets containing 0, 10, or 20% distillers dried grains plus solubles (DDGS) to laying hens (21 to 26 wk of age) on emissions of NH3 and H2S. Hy-Line W-36 hens (n = 640) were allocated randomly to 8 environmental rooms for a 5-wk period (hens in 3 rooms were offered the 10% and 20% DDGS diets each; hens in 2 rooms were of...

Two trials were conducted to assess the fate of the Cry3Bb1 protein from YieldGard rootworm corn (MON 863) when fed to laying hens. In the first trial, 2 diets, 1 formulated with MON 863 and 1 with conventional corn, were fed to laying hens (12 replicate cages with 4 hens/cage per treatment) for 8 wk. Daily feed intake (FI), egg production (EP), and BW were measured. Prestudy fecal samples, wk ...

Egg drop syndrome virus (EDSV) can markedly decrease egg production in laying hens. Duck is the natural host of EDSV. EDSV derived from ducks abrogate egg drop in laying hens. We have previously confirmed that duck-derived EDSVs have a variety of replication activities in chick embryo liver (CEL) cells. However, it is currently unclear whether duck-derived EDSV could display tropism and adaptat...

Turkeys from two BW groups (which averaged 11.8 and 12.9 kg, Normal and Heavy, respectively) were photostimulated at either 29 or 31 wk of age to determine what effects age-associated changes in hen carcass characteristics, egg weight, and egg components have on subsequent poult weight at hatching during the first 10 wk of production. Carcass measurements were determined from a subsample of hen...

We used a total of 504 commercial Single Comb White Leghorn hens (69 and 65 wk of age) in each of two experiments, and hens were induced to molt by feed withdrawal only. Feed withdrawal lasted for 12 and 11 d, and hens lost 26 and 25%, body weight in Experiments 1 and 2, respectively. All hens were then weighed, and seven replicate groups of 12 hens each were assigned to molt diet treatments. I...

The general objective of this in vitro study was to examine the secretory activity of ovarian granulosa cells of hens after lead (Pb) and molybdenum (Mo) administrations. In this study the effect of various doses of Pb and Mo on the insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and progesterone (P ) release by ovarian granulosa 4 cells was demonstrated. Ovarian granulosa cells were incubated with lead a...

To measure stress in caged hens, differential counts of their wing vein blood were used to determine heterophil/lymphocyte (H/L) ratios and total white blood cell counts (TWBC). The H/L values of 18-wk samples from conventionally caged hens (CC) were not statistically different from hens raised in aviaries (AV) when calculated by either of 2 methods (H/L 1 and H/L 2). However, there was a high ...

This study was conducted to assess the effects of flaxseed oil and dried whitebait as a source of ω-3 fatty acids (ω-3 FA), which could be used to produce eggs enriched with ω-3 FA, and of fructo-oligosaccharide (FOS) as a source of prebiotics on performance of hens (commercial Hy-Line Brown laying hens), and FA composition, internal quality, and sensory characteristics of the eggs. Dietary FOS...

Tumor-associated neoangiogenesis (TAN) is an early event in ovarian cancer (OVCA) development. Increased expression of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2) by TAN vessels presents a potential target for early detection by ultrasound imaging. The goal of this study was to examine the suitability of VEGFR2-targeted ultrasound imaging agents in detecting spontaneous OVCA in layin...