Blue Comb Research Articles

Effects of Spirulina algae as a feed supplement on nutritional value and flavour components of silkie hens eggs.

Silkie chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus brisson) is also named Chinese Taihe chicken, characterized by blue comb, green earlobes, black skin, meat and bones. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of spirulina feeding on the nutritive value and flavour of silkie hens eggs. A total of 280 Silkie hens of 42weeks old were fed 4 different diets, including basal diet and basal diet containing 0.1%, 0.3% and 0.5% spirulina. Each diet group was divided into 70 Silkie hens experimentally. The production performance of silkie hens, the nutritional compositions [e.g., amino acids (AAs) and fatty acids] and flavour substances of silkie hens eggs were compared with control. A 0.3% and 0.5% spirulina feeding significantly increased the average egg production rate and average egg weight, while only 0.3% spirulina feeding decreased both the average daily feed intake and feed conversion ratio of silkie hens compared with the controls (p<0.05). The contents of crude protein, fat, cholesterol and Ca in silkie hens eggs were significantly increased by 0.3% spirulina feeding (p<0.05). Only fat and cholesterol were significantly increased by 0.5% spirulina but had no significant difference compared with 0.3% spirulina. The flavour, amino acids/total AAs, and saturated fatty acids/unsaturated fatty acids in silkie hens eggs were significantly increased by 0.3% spirulina feeding than other groups (p<0.05). A total of 46 volatile substances were identified in silkie hens eggs, and the substances of total acids, alkanes and aldehydes were significantly increased by 0.3% spirulina feeding. Spirulina feeding at a proportion of 0.3% improved the production performance of silkie hens, and nutritive value and flavour of silkie hens eggs.

Achieving incremental semantic interpretation through contextual representation

While much work has been done investigating the role of context in the incremental processing of syntactic indeterminacies, relatively little is known about online semantic interpretation. The experiments in this article made use of the eye-tracking paradigm with spoken language and visual contexts in order to examine how, and when listeners make use of contextually-defined contrast in interpreting simple prenominal adjectives. Experiment 1 focused on intersective adjectives. Experiment 1A provided further evidence that intersective adjectives are processed incrementally. Experiment 1B compared response times to follow instructions such as ` Pick up the blue comb' under conditions where there were two blue objects (e.g. a blue pen and a blue comb), but only one of these objects had a contrasting member in the display. Responses were faster to objects with a contrasting member, establishing that the listeners initially assume a contrastive interpretation for intersective adjectives. Experiments 2 and 3 focused on vague scalar adjectives examining the time course with which listeners establish contrast for scalar adjectives such as tall using information provided by the head noun (e.g. glass) and information provided by the visual context. Use of head-based information was examined by manipulating the typicality of the target object (e.g. whether it was a good or poor example of a tall glass. Use of context-dependent contrast was examined by either having only a single glass in the display (the no contrast condition) or a contrasting object (e.g. a smaller glass). The pattern of results indicated that listeners interpreted the scalar adjective incrementally taking into account context-specific contrast prior to encountering the head. Moreover, the presence of a contrasting object, sharply reduced, and in some conditions completely eliminated, typicality effects. The results suggest a language processing system in which semantic interpretation, as well as syntactic processing, is conducted incrementally, with early integration of contextual information.

Isolement du virus influenza Hav6 N2 chez des poules pondeuses atteintes de monocytose aviaire

Avian monocytosis, blue comb disease, X disease or pullet's disease was first described in 1929 by Beaudette [1]. This affection whose etiology is still nowadays unclear affects mainly laying chickens at the beginning of the laying period. A case of avian monocytosis was observed in a Belgian flock of laying chickens. The diagnosis was based on clinical, hematological and histological examinations. An influenza A virus was isolated from the faeces and the lungs of sick birds. Serological identification of the virus was done by J. J. Skehel, World Influenza Centre, Mill Hill, London. By hemagglutination and neuraminidase inhibition tests, the virus was shown to belong to the Hav6 N2 subtype. Experimental infection of SPF chickens by intraveinous route with the virus reproduces the enteritis and the specific blood changes of avian monocytosis.

Observations on Water Deprivation and Blue Comb Disease

During the last six years we have repeatedly observed a syndrome, diagnosed as blue comb disease, whenever pullets, cockerels or yearling hens were transferred from floor pens to individual cages. The incidence of outbreaks was generally low (below 10%) and always seemed to affect the birds in pairs, namely birds facing each other on the same tier of the battery. Only very rarely was an individual bird affected without the same condition being observed in its neighbor on the opposite side of the tier.Last year we decided to study the effect of a certain drug affecting electrolyte metabolism in alleviating this condition. After a group of young pullets had again been transferred from floor to cage housing we waited for the usual occurrence and diagnosis of blue comb disease. Nineteen birds were afflicted at the end of one week after transfer and these were moved to another location with…

Genetic Resistance to Uric Nephritis in Chickens

ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION FAMILIAL differences in the incidence of mortality due to blue comb disease in chickens were reported by Cole (1950) and by Moultrie, Cottier and King (1955). The exact relationship between blue comb disease and uric nephritis in chickens is somewhat uncertain. Jungherr (1952), after reviewing the evidence of the close clinical resemblance of blue comb disease to both spontaneous and experimentally induced cases of uric nephritis, suggested that blue comb disease may be the acute form of uric nephritis. There were no differences in the levels of nephritic mortality among the inbred lines of the Poultry Research Centre at Edinburgh, Scotland, as reported by Spector (1951). On the other hand, Hicks (1953) has reported differences between families within strains and differences between breeds with regard to the occurrence of nephritis. Similarly, Biely and March (1957) found differences in the incidence of nephritis among several unrelated strains of S.C. White . . .

Additional Evidence for Genetic Variation in Resistance to “Blue Comb” Disease

GENETIC differences in susceptibility to blue comb disease during an outbreak in a flock of Single Comb White Leghorns were reported by Cole (1950) who found (1) significant differences between strains, (2) significant differences between sire families within one of the strains, (3) an intermediate level of mortality among crosses of two strains differing in their degree of susceptibility, and (4) a tendency for some dam families to be more susceptible than the sire families of which they were only a part. In the Cornell flock of 2, 857 pullets from strains bred for resistance or susceptibility to lymphomatosis, the two resistant strains, C and K, differed significantly in mortality from blue comb but did not differ in mortality from other causes during the period when blue comb disease was causing losses.The object of the following report is to present additional evidence for genetic variation in resistance to blue …

Weather influence in blue comb in chickens.

Weather influence in blue comb in chickens.

Treatment for Blue Comb Disease in Chickens

(1953). Treatment for Blue Comb Disease in Chickens. World's Poultry Science Journal: Vol. 9, No. 4, pp. 272-274.

Aureomycin in the Therapy of Blue Comb Disease in Chickens

Blue comb, or pullet disease, is perhaps the greatest mystery malady of the poultry world. Although the disorder has many of the characteristics of an infectious disease, a microbial etiological agent has never been identified. In an endeavor to shed more light upon the nature of this disease, a small group of White Leghorn pullets, in early lay, and in which blue comb disease was incipient, were subjected to controlled medication with aureomycin. The pullets were transported to the laboratory and housed as a unit in a small pen. Six of the birds were medicated individually with two grams of a crude aureomycin product per day, the drug being administered orally in divided doses morning and evening. † Seven pullets were maintained as controls. The birds were weighed daily. The results are presented in Table 1.These results suggest aureomycin administration to have been therapeutic in the treated group. Furthermore, .

Differences in Familial Incidence of Mortality from “Blue Comb” Disease

THE diagnosis of blue comb on the basis of clinical symptoms, and gross and microscopic lesions, is fairly definite when the disturbance involves several birds in a population. It is much less so when only an individual bird is available for autopsy and the case history does not indicate a generalized flock condition. Blue comb, as a specific disease entity, has been recognized for several years and can cause considerable loss in the form of mortality, reduced production, and often from the failure of laying flocks to regain previous levels of performance. It apparently is not limited to any age group or season of the year, although many of the outbreaks occur among maturing pullets during the hot summer weather.CASE HISTORYBlue comb, as such, has not been a problem in the departmental flock at Cornell University for several years. About 1940, this disease affected newly-housed White Leghorn pullets, .

The Microflora of Wheat Feeds as Related to the Incidence of Blue Comb in Chickens

AS POINTED out by Quigley (1944), commercial poultrymen have in some instances associated blue comb or pullet disease with wheat feeds. It has also been pointed out by Quigley (1944), that there is a significant difference in germination between wheats associated with the appearance of pullet disease and wheats which were found to be not associated with the appearance of the disease. Wheat samples regarded as positive for the appearance of pullet disease had a mean germination of 68.3 percent, and those regarded as negative had a mean germination of 89.4 percent.The purpose of this paper is to present evidence that wheats being fed to flocks when blue comb developed have a different microflora from wheats not associated with blue comb. The association of feed stuffs with certain animal diseases is not new, and it is necessary to call attention to only one outstanding and pertinent case—that concerning .

The Effect of Wheat upon the Incidence of Pullet Disease or Blue Comb

THE heavy feeding of wheat in many sections of the country and the continued incidence of “pullet disease” or “blue comb” in widespread areas would seem to justify an interim report and discussion of a limited number of field observations and experimental work conducted by the author at the Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station.The condition known as pullet disease (also termed X disease, blue comb, new wheat disease) was first described by Beaudette (1929) but despite the efforts of several investigators to transmit the condition from bird to bird, none appears to have succeeded. The possible exception is Waller (1942) who announced the isolation of a virus from acute cases which was not capable of producing death, hence he was unable to identify the virus as the sole etiological agent in pullet disease. Other investigators have proceeded without success along similar lines, and to the present time it is considered .

Isolation of a Filterable Virus from Chickens Affected with "Blue Comb" Disease

Isolation of a Filterable Virus from Chickens Affected with "Blue Comb" Disease