Dataset Information

The effects of melatonin on the physical properties of bones and egg shells in the laying hen.

ABSTRACT: Laying hens often experience unbalanced calcium utilization which can cause deficiencies in bone and egg mineralization. Because melatonin has been shown to affect bone mineralization in other animals, we examined whether treating hens with melatonin would affect eggshell thickness and improve skeletal performance, thereby reducing skeletal and egg shell defects. Birds were given a diet containing either low (30 µg/kg), medium (300 µg/kg), or high (3 mg/kg) concentrations of melatonin, or control feed through approximately one laying cycle. We examined the weight, length, and strength of egg, femur, tibia, and keel. Hens treated with a high concentration of melatonin showed significant strengthening in their femur and tibia, as measured by maximum force sustained and breaking force, compared to controls. Egg weights from hens treated with melatonin were significantly greater than those from hens that were not treated with melatonin. Conversely, egg shell mass of hens treated with melatonin was significantly lower than those of hens not treated with melatonin. Our data suggest that melatonin may affect the allocation of calcium to bone at the expense of egg shell mineralization.

SUBMITTER: Taylor AC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3585294 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

The effects of melatonin on the physical properties of bones and egg shells in the laying hen.

Taylor Alexander C AC Horvat-Gordon Maria M Moore Ashli A Bartell Paul A PA

PloS one 20130228 2

Laying hens often experience unbalanced calcium utilization which can cause deficiencies in bone and egg mineralization. Because melatonin has been shown to affect bone mineralization in other animals, we examined whether treating hens with melatonin would affect eggshell thickness and improve skeletal performance, thereby reducing skeletal and egg shell defects. Birds were given a diet containing either low (30 µg/kg), medium (300 µg/kg), or high (3 mg/kg) concentrations of melatonin, or contro ...[more]

PMID: 23468846

Similar Datasets

Project description:Odour is one of the main environmental concerns in the laying hen industry and may also influence animal health and production performance. Previous studies showed that odours from the laying hen body are primarily produced from the microbial fermentation (breakdown) of organic materials in the caecum, and different laying hen species may have different odour production potentials. This study was conducted to evaluate the emissions of two primary odorous gases, ammonia (NH3) and hydrogen sulphide (H2S), from six different laying hen species (Hyline, Lohmann, Nongda, Jingfen, Xinghua and Zhusi). An in vitro fermentation technique was adopted in this study, which has been reported to be an appropriate method for simulating gas production from the microbial fermentation of organic materials in the caecum. The results of this study show that Jingfen produced the greatest volume of gas after 12 h of fermentation (p < 0.05). Hyline had the highest, while Lohmann had the lowest, total NH3 emissions (p < 0.05). The total H2S emissions of Zhusi and Hyline were higher than those of Lohmann, Jingfen and Xinghua (p < 0.05), while Xinghua exhibited the lowest total H2S emissions (p < 0.05). Of the six laying hen species, Xinghua was identified as the best species because it produced the lowest total amount of NH3 + H2S (39.94 µg). The results for the biochemical indicators showed that the concentration of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) from Zhusi was higher than that for the other five species, while the pH in Zhusi was lower (p < 0.01), and the concentrations of ammonium nitrogen (NH4+), uric acid and urea in Xinghua were lower than those in the other species (p < 0.01). Hyline had the highest change in SO42- concentration during the fermentation processes (p < 0.05). In addition, the results of the correlation analysis suggested that NH3 emission is positively related to urease activities but is not significantly related to the ureC gene number. Furthermore, H2S emission was observed to be significantly related to the reduction of SO42- but showed no connection with the aprA gene number. Overall, our findings provide a reference for future feeding programmes attempting to reduce odour pollution in the laying hen industry.

Dataset Information

The effects of melatonin on the physical properties of bones and egg shells in the laying hen.

Publications

The effects of melatonin on the physical properties of bones and egg shells in the laying hen.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets