Abstract
L ab o rtyfA n im l Nu ,G d eS ch B g sU vABSTRACT This work was conducted to evaluate the effects of induced-molting methods on visceral organs and blood stress indicators in laying hens. One hundred fifty of 63-wk-old White Leghorn hens, with over 85% of egg production and 1.7±0.4 kg of average weight, were used in this study. Treatments were control (non-molt treatment), feeding molt treatment (FM), and starving molt treatment (SM). There were 5 replicates of 10 hens for each treatment. All treatment groups were fed basal diet (15% CP and 2,700 kal/kg of ME) for two weeks as adaptation period. Heart weights were 8.2, 7.9 and 7.5 g in control, FM and SM, respectively. Liver and oviduct weights were decreased in both molting treatments compared with control (P<0.05). Corticosterone (CS) concentrations were 4.48, 4.47 and 4.66 μg/mL in control, FM and SM at 61 weeks, respectively, but increased to 7.32, 7.11 and 7.71 μg/mL at 62 weeks, respectively (P<0.05). Heterophil to lymphocyte ratios were 0.27～0.29 in all groups at 61 weeks, but increased to 0.97～1.03 in SM at 62 weeks. Both CS concentrations and H:L ratios in SM were greater compared with those for the other groups. These results suggest that hens in feeding molting program in hens are less stressed than those in starving molting one.(Key words : molt, visceral organs, corticosterone, heterophil, lymphocyte)
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