Effect of starting body fat content and genotype of laying hens on the changes in their live weight, body fat content, egg production and egg composition during the first egg-laying period

Abstract

A total 120 laying hens (60 TETRA BLANCA white egg layers and 60 TETRA SL brown egg layers) were selected from 250 TETRA BLANCA and 250 TETRA SL pullets based on their predicted body fat content by means of computed tomography (CT) at 16 weeks of age. Three groups of pullets were chosen for the investigation with the highest (n = 20), lowest (n = 20) and average (n = 20) body fat content.Changes in the live weight, body fat content, egg production and egg composition of the chosen animals were recorded at 32, 52 and 72 weeks of age.Based on the results, it was established that differences in starting body fat content of the hens remained the same during the experimental period. The differences between the two extreme groups were statistically significant at each age.The starting body fat content of the hens affected the rate of egg production, i.e. hens with high starting body fat content produced 11–14 eggs fewer than the hens with a low or average body fat content but had no effect on the composition of the eggs.Genotype affected almost all of the examined traits: TETRA BLANCA hens had lower live weight and higher body fat content during the experimental period and produced fewer eggs with lower albumen and higher yolk, dry matter and crude fat content than the TETRA SL hens.