The aim of this study was to investigating the effects of partially replacing the commercial soybean meal (SBM) by locally produced raw, full-fat soybean (RFFSB) in diets of layers. After cleaning, the tested ingredient (RFFSB) was hammered to pass through a 0.2-mm sieve. Then, four experimental diets were formulated by replacing the SBM by RFFSB at 0, 15, 30 or 45% (equivalents to 0, 30, 60 or 90 g/kg of diet, respectively). Before the commencement of this feeding trial, birds were uniformly managed and fed as per their requirements (i.e., starter, grower and pullet diets). This feeding trial was started when birds’ age was 24 weeks. Every treatment was replicated 4 times and 17 laying birds per replicate. The results revealed that replacing the commercial SBM by raw soybean (up to 45%) in the layer diets had no negative effects on the final live BWT and also on the vital organ developments, such as pancreas, duodenum, intestines and gizzard. Hen-day egg production, hen-housed egg production and egg quality measuring parameters were not significant affected by that of partially replacing the commercially SBM by the raw soybean. It is concluded that without compromising the productivity and health, a hammered RFFSB can replace (up to 45%) the commercial SBM in diets of the laying hens.

In this study, the performance, egg quality, egg yolk colour and fatty acids profile of quails fed on diets containing different fat sources were determined. During 8 weeks trial, a total of 75, 10-weeks-old laying quails were used. Three diets were formulated to contain soybean oil (SBO), sunflower oil (SFO) and hempseed oil (HSO), respectively. The performance parameters were not significantly influenced by the dietary different oil sources. Eggshell ratio, eggshell thickness, eggshell breaking strength, egg shape index, egg yolk index, albumen index and egg yolk colour values (except a*) were not influenced by the different dietary oil sources. The a* value was significantly affected and the highest a* value was the HSO of group. The different oil sources supplementation to the diets was effective on fatty acid composition of the egg yolk. The highest value in terms of α-linolenic acid, total polyunsaturated fatty acids and total n-3 fatty acids were found in the diet fed group with HSO added. As a result; supplementation of different sources of oil to quail diets without negatively affecting performance and egg quality can be used to change the egg yolk fatty acid composition. Hempseed oil may increase the amount of total polyunsaturated fatty acids and total n-3 fatty acid content of egg yolk.

Most poultry farmers in Nigeria feed their laying birds twice a day with one bag of 25 kg to 200 layers which translate to 125g/bird/day, while very few feed once or thrice a day and there has been little or no documentation on how many times laying hens should be fed in a day to optimize profit. Thus, this study was designed to investigate the performance and egg qualities of Isa-Brown layers fed different quantities of feed at varying feeding frequencies. Three hundred and sixty (360) 16-weeks in-lay Isa-Brown layers were used in this trial. The treatment consisted of 95g, 105g, 115g, and 125g of feed per day at varying frequencies of once, twice and thrice per day. The birds were housed in California type cages, 3 birds per cage unit, 5 cage units per replicate, and 6 replicates per treatment. A completely randomized experimental design with a 4x3 factorial was adopted. Results at the end of the trial showed that bird fed 115g of feed twice per day had the highest percentage hen-day production (85.24%), highest egg mass (56.69g) and best feed conversion ratio (1.96) while lowest percentage hen-day production (62.02%) and lowest egg mass (39.22g) were observed in hen fed 95g of feed thrice per day and worst feed conversion ratio (2.50) was recorded in bird fed 125g of feed thrice per day. The bird fed 115g twice per day had the highest net profit (N637.63) while the lowest net profit (N199.33) was recorded in bird fed 125g thrice per day. It could be concluded that for optimum laying performance and to save time and labour expended in feeding birds thrice per day, feeding laying Isa-Brown birds the required feed quantity (115g) twice per day would be most economical.

This study was conducted to determine the effect of rearing quails in different rearing systems on egg production, egg quality characteristics, and incubation results. The 360 quails were distributed equally to 3 different rearing groups (cage, enriched cage, and floor) in a male:female mixed at the age of 3 weeks. The eggs were individually weighed and recorded one by one daily (5487 eggs) for 3 months. To determine egg quality and incubation characteristics, 750 eggs were broken, and 3284 eggs were incubated, respectively. The results showed that female quail in the floor group have lower body weight at 6 weeks old (177.19 g), and they reached sexual maturity (age of first egg laying) later (65.36 day, P<0.01), The lowest egg production (61.14%) occurred in the floor group during the 3-month egg production period (P<0.05). The lowest average egg weight (9.07 g) was determined in the floor group (P<0.05). It was determined that the eggs of quails raised in the enriched group had a rounder shape index because they have larger widths (P<0.01). While the highest average yolk height (11.24 mm) was determined in the enriched cage group (P<0.01), the highest averages of albumen length (72.41 mm) and lowest averages of yolk index (48.43%) were determined in the cage group (P<0.01). The lowest average values (113.17) in Haugh unit were detected in the floor group (P<0.05). The highest fertility rate (98.44%) was in Floor♂:Cage♀, the highest hatchability of fertile egg rate (94.67%) was obtained from Enriched♂:Cage♀, and the highest hatchability (89.10%) was obtained from Floor♂:Cage♀ pairing (P<0.05). The lowest fertility rate (88.00%) was obtained from the Enriched♂:Floor♀, the lowest hatchability of fertile egg rate (86.01%) was obtained from the Enriched♂:Enriched♀, and the lowest hatchability (75.62%) was obtained from the Enriched♂: Enriched♀ groups. As a result, it has been revealed that the effect of various rearing systems is different on egg production, egg quality traits, and hatching results in quails. Thus, it has been shown that different programs at the rearing period to be applied to the male and female quails can achieve better incubation results and reproductive success.

This study compared egg quality parameters in layers under free-range system with prefabricated pens and backyard while emphasizing hen age. A total of 300 eggs collected from prefabricated pens and backyard farming families in the Çamardı District of Niğde Province were used as study materials. The assessed external and internal egg quality characteristics included egg weight, shape index, shell thickness, shell breaking strength, albumen index, Haugh unit, yolk index, and yolk colour. The effect of production system on albumen index, Haugh unit, and yolk colour score was found statistically significant. There was a significant effect of age on shape index, shell thickness, shell breaking strength, albumen index, Haugh Unit, yolk index, and yolk colour score. The effect of interaction between age and production system was statistically significant for shape index, shell thickness, yolk index, Haugh Unit, and yolk colour score. It was determined that the egg`s meat and blood spots percentages from the free-range and backyard systems were 10.6% and 15.3%, respectively. It was concluded that while eggs produced from free-range system are superior in terms of egg weight, shape index, and Haugh unit those obtained from backyard hens are higher in eggshell thickness, eggshell breaking strength, and egg yolk colour.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of organic copper supplementation (0, 5, 10 and 20 mg/kg) in the commercial diet on performance, egg quality and haematological parameters in laying quails. In this 10-week trial, a total of 80 laying quails, aged 22 weeks, were randomly distributed among four experimental groups. Each experimental group contained four replicates of five female birds each. The addition of organic copper to the diets did not statistically affect egg production, egg weight, egg mass, feed conversion ratio, damaged eggs, egg shape index, Haugh unit, and blood parameters except neutrophils and mean corpuscular haemoglobin. Compared to other groups, body weight change was decreased by the addition of 20 mg/kg organic copper, and feed intake was decreased by the addition of 10 mg/kg copper in the quails. The addition of 20 mg/kg of organic copper to the quail diets significantly decreased the eggshell breaking strength and eggshell weight, while it significantly increased the eggshell thickness compared with the control group. The neutrophil and mean corpuscular haemoglobin were increased by the addition of 10 and 20 mg/kg organic copper, respectively, with compare to other groups. It can be said that up to 10 mg / kg of organic copper can be added to commercial quail diets, but its addition at 20 mg/kg negatively effects on some blood parameters as neutrophil and mean corpuscular haemoglobin in quails.

The purpose of this study was to compare the performance and egg quality parameters of two layer hybrids (Lohmann Brown and Atak-S) which were reared in free-range system. The experiment was carried out with a total of 300 laying hens. From 18 to 50 weeks of age Lohmann Brown (LB) and Atak-S (AS) were housed in two groups of 150 hens in a poultry house with a stocking density of 7 hens/m2. The 2 trial groups were formed from 10 repetitions each consisting of 15 hens. At the 20, 30, 40 and 50 weeks of ages, the production performance and egg quality parameters were evaluated. Mean daily feed intake and feed efficiency through the trial were 111.2 g vs 124.3 g, and 2.46 vs 2.58 respectively for LB and AS hybrids (P

The purpose of this study was to determine the dietary effects of fruit pulps (dried tomato, apple and grape) on the performance and egg quality characteristics of laying hens. In this trial, 196 Lohmann sandy layers 25 weeks of age were distributed into four groups with seven replicates for 9 weeks. Trial groups fed following diets, control group basal diet (no additive), 4 % dried tomato pulp, 4% apple pulp and 2.5% grape pulp. Feed conversion rate was not affected by any addition of fruit pulps throughout the trial. The dietary inclusion of dried tomato pulp increased feed consumption, egg weight and egg production and decreased egg yolk malondialdehyde (MDA) levels on day of 1 compared to the control. Egg yolk MDA level was decreased with the addition of 4% tomato and apple pulp to the diet, but increased with the addition of 2.5% grape pulp to the diet on the day of 28. Moreover, the addition of dried tomato pulp to the basal diet significantly increased egg weight and egg yolk yellow color (a). As a result, this study provides evidence that adding up to 4% tomato pulp to diets may be used without adverse effects on laying hens’ productivity and may improve egg quality characteristics by decreasing MDA levels in the yolk.

This study aimed to determine the structural relationship between internal and external egg quality (IEEQ) traits. In this study, 114 eggs produced from 24 weeks-old laying hens reared at the Ondokuz Mayis University Research Farm were used. Egg weight (EW), egg width (EWi), egg length (EL) and shell weight (SW) measurements were examined as external quality traits. Also, albumen height (AH), albumen width (AW), yolk height (YH), yolk weight (YW) and yolk diameter (YD) parameters were used as internal quality traits. Structural Equation Model (SEM) was used to determine the relationships between IEEQ traits. Data analysis was performed with the LISREL package. It has been determined that the variables that are important in determining the external egg quality are SW, EWi and EL. When the variables explaining the internal traits were examined, it was determined that the YW, YD, AW, AH and YH were significant. It was determined that the relationship between external egg quality and internal quality was 0.96 and external quality explained the internal quality by 91%. It has been determined that the SEM used in this study is sufficient to explain the relationship between internal and external quality.

In this study, the eggs produced in uncontrolled village conditions were compared to free-range, organic and cage-system in two seasons, in autumn and spring, in terms of external and internal quality traits. In the autumn and spring period, 110 eggs were collected from the village eggs and 50 eggs from other production systems. In order to determine the fertility in the village eggs, 60 eggs were placed in a laboratory type incubator in both seasons and fertility control was made at the 18th day. All data of egg quality traits were performed by taking the average of the two seasons. Egg shape index, shell ratio, shell thickness, shell cleanness, shell defects, albumen and yolk traits differed significantly among production systems (P < 0.05). The lowest shape index, shell thickness and shell cleanness were found in village eggs. Higher shell rates were determined from eggs in cage and organic production compared to others (P < 0.05). The yolk height and yolk index were the lowest and the yolk colors were the darkest in the white cage eggs (P < 0.05). Brown cage eggs showed the better results in the majority of their quality traits. However, they had a higher meat and blood-spot level than other systems. In addition, the presence of cockerels in the village flocks caused the fertile eggs and approximately 85% fertility was obtained. Our results showed that it has become obvious that the village hen and free range hen eggs which can be marketed in high prices compared to the commercial eggs, have no superiority in terms of the traits they are considered. Besides, as they are significantly fertile, especially in hot summer months, according to storage duration and conditions, the probability of embryo development for these eggs has turned to be of high importance for consumption.