The performance of cross‐bred hens given free choice feeding of whole grains and a concentrate mixture and the influence of source of xanthophylls on yolk colour

1. Cross‐bred hens were offered, from 25 to 73 weeks of age, diets based on either wheat or barley in the form of either a mash or as whole grains plus a concentrate mixture; four sources of xanthophylls were also compared.

2. Wheat reduced food intake by 8%, increased efficiency of food conversion and live‐weight gain while barley increased litter moisture content, and, during the first half of the laying year decreased egg production by 3.3% and yolk colour by 4%.

3. Hens offered whole grains ate 11% less food, converted food into eggs more efficiently, were heavier and laid larger eggs than those given the mash diets.

4. With whole grains yolk colour was less than with mash diets during the first 24 weeks of lay but this was reversed during the last 24 weeks of lay.

5. Either canthaxanthin or citranaxanthin or β‐apo‐8'‐carotenoic acid ethyl ester plus canthaxanthin in diets containing lucerne meal produced eggs with acceptable yolk colours.     

The use of air‐coolers in broiler houses under subtropical conditions in Iraq

1. Under summer conditions in north Iraq, 2 000 chicks were reared for 56 d in two broiler houses. One house was provided with two air‐coolers. The birds were housed at densities of eight to 16 birds/m².

2. Differences in weight gain between birds in cooled and uncooled houses ranged from 101.5 g at eight birds/m² to 385 g at 16 birds/m². Food consumption increased gradually with increasing bird density. Food conversion efficiency, meat yield and carcass conformation were much better in the cooled house than under conventional conditions.

3. The financial return/m² ranged from 2.30 to 4.51 ID¹ in the cooled house, compared with 2.01 to 2.77 ID in the uncooled house at different floor densities.     

Studies on the avian shell gland during egg formation: The effect of acetazol‐amide on the transfer of ions to the albumen 1

1. Twenty‐five laying hens were fed on a diet containing 100 mg acetazolamide/kg in order to determine the effects of a decrease in the activity of carbonic anhydrase on the transfer of minerals to the egg albumen.

2. Treatment with acetazolamide decreased the rate of shell formation by 44%; reduced the concentrations of water and Na+ in the albumen at the beginning of the plumping stage but increased the accumulation of water during plumping; increased the concentration of Cl‐ in the albumen after the 6‐h stage without any appreciable change in K+ and Ca²⁺ concentrations.

3. The computed relationships between the concentrations of different ions also showed that the transfer of water and Na+ were linked during egg formation, that a water‐independent, acetazolamide‐sensitive reabsorption of Na+ occurred after the 10‐h stage and that Na+ and Cl‐moved simultaneously up to 14 h but with the ratio of Cl‐ to Na+ three times higher in the treated group.

4. It is concluded that acetazolamide impairs the transfer of Na+ and Cl‐ between the albumen and the extracellular fluid and that secretion of Ca²⁺ into the uterine lumen seems to depend on Na+ and Cl‐ reabsorption.     

Effects of age on the tryptophan requirement of laying hens

1. White Leghorn pullets which had been used for an assay of tryptophan requirement between 32 and 40 weeks of age were used for similar determinations between 63 and 73 and, after a moult, from 97 to 106 weeks of age.

2. A tryptophan‐limiting protein mixture was used and by dilution seven dietary protein contents were produced, supplying from 0.84 to 1–92 g tryptophan/kg diet. The diet of lowest protein content was also sup‐lemented with free tryptophan. These diets were fed in experiments using 24 groups of 72 pullets at 63 to 73 weeks and 45 groups of 21 hens at 97 to 106 weeks.

3. The relationship between egg output and tryptophan intake was the same in moulted hens as in young pullets, but pullets of 63 to 73 weeks of age yielded a different response curve; more tryptophan being needed for a given egg output.

4. It is concluded that tryptophan required, per day, does not decrease during the first laying year, despite a decrease in rate of egg output.     

Stability of abdominal fat and meat of broilers: Effect of duration of feeding antioxidants 1

1. The α‐tocopherol (AT) content of abdominal fat and fat stability increased as a function of the duration of α‐tocopheryl acetate (ATA) feeding in broilers fed on diets containing either 40 g acidulated soyabean‐oil soapstock (ASS) or tallow/kg. A linear relationship was observed between AT content of the adipose tissue and its stability with both types of fat supplements.

2. The stabilities of carcass fat and meat of 9‐week‐old broilers fed on diets containing ASS with 300 mg ethoxyquin (EQ)/kg or diets containing tallow with 20 mg ATA/kg from weeks 5 to 9 were comparable with those obtained by feeding these antioxidants and fats throughout the growth period.

3. ATA added to a diet containing ASS, and EQ, added to a diet containing tallow did not improve meat stability despite such an effect on adipose tissue when fed for 9 weeks. The results emphasise the importance of using the dietary antioxidant appropriate to the fat supplement to improve carcass stability.     

The photoperiodic effect of ahemeral light‐dark cycles which entrain circadian rhythms

1. A 27‐h cycle of light and dark provides a greater gonadotrophic stimulus to the laying fowl, as judged by sexual maturity and rate of lay, than a 24‐h cycle incorporating the same photoperiod.

2. An hypothesis put forward to account for these effects states that Effective Photoperiod equals p + c – b, where p = actual photoperiod, c = cycle length and b = the period of the endogenous biological clock.

3. Two experiments designed to test this hypothesis have yielded results which are consistent with it.

4. A poultryman who uses an ahemeral cycle to alter egg weight or shell thickness and then wishes to transfer his flock back to a 24‐h cycle should calculate the difference between the two cycle lengths and then add this quantity to the prevailing photoperiod to find the appropriate amount of light to be used in the 24‐h cycle.     

The action of sulphanilamide on shell deposition

1. The action of sulphanilamide on egg shell deposition has been studied in the domestic fowl. The length of time that eggs remain in the shell gland was measured; the relative thickness and protoporphyrin pigment concentration for egg shells removed from the shell gland were determined; egg shell structure was examined using a replica technique.

2. Sulphanilamide appeared to act mainly by reducing the rate of shell deposition, time spent in the shell gland was unaffected.

3. The thickness of shell components was reduced in a roughly proportional manner in thin shells produced during sulphanilamide treatment.

4. It is proposed that other thin shells in which the component layers are all reduced to a similar extent are also the result of a decreased deposition rate.     

Sire × hatch interaction effects and pen effects in progeny testing broiler males for growth rate

1. Pen effects and sire x hatch interaction effects on growth rate to 8 weeks of age were estimated from family and progeny test data obtained from the application of two commercial breeding programmes for growth rate to broilers.

2. The following variance components were obtained: σ²(pen) = 255 g², σ²(sire) = 1 260 g², σ²(sire × hatch) = 1 997 g²,σ²(residual) = 19 708 g².

3. It is concluded that the effectiveness of progeny testing for growth rate in broilers is severely restricted by sire x hatch interaction effects.     

The use of n‐paraffin‐grown yeast as the main source of protein in diets for chicks

1. n‐Paraffin‐grown yeast and a mixture of soyabean meal and fish meal were compared in the net protein utilisation (NPU) test, and as protein supplements in diets for broilers up to 4 weeks of age.

2. The difference between the NPU values, 0.66 for yeast and 0.80 for the soyabean meal and fish meal mixture, could largely be attributed to the high nucleic acid content of the yeast.

3. Chicks given the diet containing yeast (190 g/kg) did not grow as rapidly as those given the soyabean meal and fish meal reference diet, and the reduced growth could only partly be explained by a marginal deficiency of methionine.

4. Food conversion efficiency with the yeast diet was improved by maize oil while responses to α‐tocopheryl acetate and sodium selenite were inconsistent.

5. Chicks grew well when yeast replaced fish meal in the mixture of soyabean meal and fish meal, and when fish meal (194 g/kg diet) was the sole protein supplement.     

Comparisons of frequencies and egg shell characteristics of broken and intact eggs within diverse populations of chickens

1. Differences were found among eight populations of White Plymouth Rock pullets in the frequency of broken eggs.

2. The shells of such eggs were thinner than those of intact eggs in seven of the populations.

3. The number of defective eggs, the specific gravity of the eggs, and the percentage hen‐day egg production of normal eggs were significantly correlated within populations with the incidence of broken eggs.

4. No significant correlations were found within populations between the incidence of egg breakage and either egg weight, body weight, or shank length.