Raised environmental temperature and food rationing as means of restricting growth of the replacement pullet

1. Four rearing temperature regimes (15, 20, 25, 30 °C) and three feeding schedules (ad libitum, restricting to the ad libitum intake of the 12th week and feeding 70% of this rate) were carried out with layer replacement pullets to 170 d of age. From this age, during lay, birds were kept at either 21 °C or on a 24‐h cycle of 21 for 18 h and 28 °C for the 6 h before lights out. Both a white and a brown egg‐laying strain were used.

2. Body weight at 169 d of age varied from, on average, 1409 g (15 °C, ad libitum) to 943 g (30 °C, 70% schedule) for the white strain and 1947 to 1250 g for the same treatments respectively for the brown strain. Sexual maturity was considerably delayed by the 70% feeding schedule, only slightly by rearing at 30 °C.

3. Rearing at 30 °C tended to depress subsequent egg output. The 70% feeding schedule at least maintained egg output compared with birds fed ad libitum in rearing.

4. There was a highly significant effect of temperature treatment during lay on food intake. The reduction in food intake due to the 21–28 °C cycle, however, appeared small.     

Comparison of artificial light sources and lighting programmes for laying hens on long ahemeral light cycles

Three lighting treatments were given to laying hens, for which the bright and dim light of 28-h ahemeral light cycles was provided by incandescent (tungsten filament) lamps only or by combinations of tubular fluorescent or compact gas-discharge lamps with incandescent lamps. There were no differences in entrainment (the proportion of eggs laid in 4, 6 or 8 h modal periods) between the three bright:dim treatments. A fourth ahemeral lighting treatment in which the dim lights were extinguished except during a designated work period (09.00 h to 12.00 h daily) was termed bright:dim:dark. Hens given the bright:dim:dark treatment showed an increased entrainment compared with the three bright:dim light treatments. There were no differences (P greater than 0.05) in egg numbers or mean egg weight between all 4 lighting treatments. Birds given the bright:dim:dark treatment tended to have a lower (P greater than 0.05) food intake compared to the three bright:dim treatments.     

Environmental temperature and broiler performance: The use of diets containing increased amounts of protein

1. Five diets containing different amounts of protein (178, 210, 243, 275, 308 g/kg) were fed to broilers reared at 16, 21, 26 and 31 °G from 27, 21, 11 and 1 d of age, respectively.

2. Feeding the diets with increased concentrations of protein apparently does not reduce the growth rate depression of the broiler reared at 26 or 31 °C.     

Choice feeding of the male and female broiler

1. Male and female broilers from 21 d of age were fed on either a complete diet or given a choice of whole wheat and one of two higher‐protein foods formulated by omitting some or all of the cereal from the complete diet.

2. For males receiving the choice treatments, on average 44.7 and 73.1 % by weight, respectively of the food consumed from 21 d consisted of whole wheat. The corresponding figures for the females were 49.9 and 77.3% respectively.

3. Growth rate from 21 d was significantly lower for the males which received wheat and the cereal‐free higher‐protein food and for the females on either choice treatment. Differences in the treatment means, however, were small.     

Morphometrical analysis of the kidney from nonobese diabetic (NOD) mice in the non-diabetic stage

The kidneys of non-diabetic NOD and wild type ICR mice were examined morphometrically at 3 and 6 months of age. Kidney weights and diameter of renal corpuscles of non-diabetic NOD mice were less than those of ICR mice. No lesions were observed in glomeruli or uriniferous tubules. Renin-positive areas were more common in NOD mice than in ICR mice, but no differences were detected in the Western blot analyses.     

Increasing the environmental temperature later in lay and performance of the fowl

1. For laying fowls fed on a conventional diet increasing the environmental temperature from 21 to 27 °C at 333 d of age resulted in a depressed rate of egg output (333 to 500 d).

2. Egg output for birds kept at 27 °C from 333 d could not be increased to the maximum rate of output of birds at 21 °C for this period by feeding a diet of equal energy content containing increased proportions of protein‐rich ingredients.

3. The difference in both food intake and egg output between hens maintained at 21 and those maintained at 27 °C appeared to decrease when the higher temperature was introduced at 416 d of age.     

Choice feeding of the egg‐type pullet

1. Egg‐type pullets from 43 to 127 d of age were fed either a high‐protein concentrate (493 g/kg), a protein concentrate (323 g/kg) or a grower diet, together with either whole wheat or whole barley. Further birds received a complete diet and had no choice.

2. Eighty‐four point six, 69.5 and 31.4% respectively of the food consumed by the birds which received the high‐protein concentrate, protein concentrate or grower diet with wheat consisted of the whole cereal. The corresponding figures for the birds which received barley were 73.9, 41.3 and 10.9% respectively.

3. There were no significant differences in rate of food intake or growth between choice‐fed birds receiving whole wheat and the complete diet‐fed birds with no choice.     

Estimation of a matrix model of forest growth from re-measured permanent plots

The purpose of this paper was to evaluate various techniques to obtain estimates of coefficients in a model of a selection forest developed previously. The data originated from 161 plots re-measured in 1961, 1964 and 1969. The detailed individual tree data available ib this particular case permitted a very simple and unbiased estimation of the growth matrix parameters. It was shown that, in situations where less information would be available, ordinary least squares, or seemingly unrelated (Zellner) estimation would lead to very serious bias and in fact meaningless results. A constrained estimation procedure was proposed to alleviate this bias. The method used the particular structure of the model and extraneous estimates of mortality rates.     

Effect of different dietary supplemental fats and oils on the tissue fatty acid composition and growth of female broilers

1. A study was undertaken to examine the effect of supplementation of diets with fats of different chain length and degree of unsaturation on the performance, carcase characteristics and tissue fatty acid composition of broilers.

2. Three hundred and sixty 19‐day‐old female broilers were fed on diets containing supplemental fat/oil (50 g/kg) in the form of beef tallow (BT) (diet T‐T), soyabean oil (SBO) (diet S‐S), rapeseed oil (RSO) (diet R‐R), marine oil (MO) (diet M‐M) or binary mixtures (0.5:0.5 w/w) of these lipids (diets T‐S, T‐R, T‐M, S‐R, S‐M, and R‐M) to 54 d of age. Food intake, live weight, plucked weight and the lipid concentration and fatty acid composition of abdominal fat pad, liver and breast muscle were measured.

3. Food intake, plucked weight and live weight were greatest for diet T‐T and lowest for diet R‐R. Food conversion ratio was poorest for birds fed on diets containing BT. Lipid concentration in abdominal fat pad was significantly higher in birds fed on diets containing SBO. liver lipid concentration was significantly reduced by diets containing RSO.

4. Abdominal fat pad fatty acid profile was most readily altered by dietary fatty acids. There was a strong correlation between dietary fatty acid composition and tissue fatty acid composition for all fatty acids except C14:0, C20:0, C20: 2n‐6 and C20: 4n‐6. The tissue P/S ratio ranged from 0.40 for diet T‐T to 1.40 for diet S‐S. The n‐6/n‐3 ratio was significantly increased by the inclusion of SBO and decreased by the inclusion of MO.

5. Liver fatty acid profile was least modified by dietary fatty acids. There was an inverse relationship between liver and dietary C20:4n‐6 concentration. Tissue C18:2n‐6 and C20:4n‐6 were highly correlated, suggesting significant interconversion by ?‐6 desaturase in this tissue. The n‐6/n‐3 ratio was significantly increased by inclusion of SBO and significantly decreased by the inclusion of MO.

6. In breast muscle MO‐based diets increased the proportion of n‐3 PUFA at the expense of n‐6 PUFA. The tissue concentrations of C18:ln‐9, C18:2n‐6, C20:ln‐9, C20:5n‐3, C22:5n‐3 and C22:6n‐3 were strongly correlated with dietary fatty acid composition. Muscle and diet P/S and n‐6/n‐3 ratios were highly correlated.