Dataset Information

Melatonin implantation improved the egg-laying rate and quality in hens past their peak egg-laying age.

ABSTRACT: The egg-laying rates of hens approximately 470 days of age exhibited a positive correlation to blood melatonin levels. The hens with an egg-laying rate <30%, 30~90% and ?90% had blood melatonin levels of 5.8?±?2.6, 74.0?±?32.9 and 445.9?±?115.3?ng/ml, respectively. When 10?mg of melatonin was implanted into the hens at 300, 360, 470 and 550 days of age, the egg-laying rates increased 4.63?±?0.46%, 8.38?±?1.45%, 4.93?±?0.85% and 7.93?±?0.91%, respectively, compared to that of the controls. Melatonin implantation in hens at 300-470 days of age was observed to enhance egg production and reduce the rate of appearance of sharpei eggs. Melatonin (10?mg) implanted in hens 360 days of age did not influence the blood levels of progesterone (P4) or the gene expression levels of ovarian follicle stimulating hormone receptor (FSHR), luteinizing hormone receptor (LHR), oestradiol receptor alpha (ER?), superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2) or melatonin receptor 1 (MT1). In contrast, melatonin significantly elevated the serum oestradiol-17? (E2) content, down-regulated the gene expression of gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone receptor (GnIHR), and enhanced the expression of melatonin receptor 2 (MT2). This result indicates that the improved egg-laying rate by melatonin was the result of increased serum oestradiol and decreased ovarian GnIHR. These alterations may be mediated by MT2 activation.

SUBMITTER: Jia Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5180240 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Melatonin implantation improved the egg-laying rate and quality in hens past their peak egg-laying age.

Jia Yaxiong Y Yang Minghui M Zhu Kuanfeng K Wang Liang L Song Yukun Y Wang Jing J Qin Wenxiang W Xu Zhiyuan Z Chen Yu Y Liu Guoshi G

Scientific reports 20161223

The egg-laying rates of hens approximately 470 days of age exhibited a positive correlation to blood melatonin levels. The hens with an egg-laying rate <30%, 30~90% and ≥90% had blood melatonin levels of 5.8 ± 2.6, 74.0 ± 32.9 and 445.9 ± 115.3 ng/ml, respectively. When 10 mg of melatonin was implanted into the hens at 300, 360, 470 and 550 days of age, the egg-laying rates increased 4.63 ± 0.46%, 8.38 ± 1.45%, 4.93 ± 0.85% and 7.93 ± 0.91%, respectively, compared to that of the controls. Melato ...[more]

PMID: 28008984

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Project description:BackgroundSoya saponin (SS), an active compound in soybean meals, has been widely studied in the medical field. However, it was considered as an anti-nutritional factor in poultry diets. The objective of this experiment was to measure the effects of dietary SS using three dietary treatments on egg-laying performance and immune function of laying hens. Birds were fed a low soybean meal basal diet (CON), a low-SS diet (50 SS) containing 50 mg/kg SS, or a high-SS diet (500 SS) containing 500 mg/kg SS for 10 weeks. At the end of the 5th and 10th week of the trial, samples were collected for analysis.ResultsResults showed that with 50 mg/kg SS supplementation, the egg production rate, feed conversion ratio (FCR), and eggshell quality tended to be improved. Serum follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and Interleukin-4 (IL-4) levels were also elevated as well as the peripheral blood LPS stimulation index, the proportion of B lymphocytes, and antibody titer of bovine serum albumin (BSA). We also found that mRNA levels of follicle stimulating hormone receptor (FSHR) in ovarian, nuclear transcription factor kappa B (NF-κB), Transforming growth factor (TGF-β) and interferon γ (IFN-γ) in spleen were up-regulated at the end of the trial. Additionally, dietary 50 mg/kg SS improved the ileal flora via up-regulating the relative abundance of Lactobacillus, Romboutsia and Lactobacillus delbrueckii. Although the immune related indicators were improved with 500 mg/kg SS supplemented, it seemed to have a negative influence on the laying-performance. Specifically, serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and the ratio of IFN-γ to IL-4 were increased in the 500 SS group at the end of the trial. The mRNA levels of gonadotropin releasing hormone 1 (GnRH1) in Hypothalamus, the estrogen related receptor (ERR) in ovaries were downregulated as well as the egg production rate during the trial with 500 mg/kg SS supplemented.ConclusionsThe egg production performance was improved by dietary supplemented with 50 mg/kg SS via increasing ovarian FSHR transcription level and serum estrogen level. A beneficial shift in intestinal microflora was recorded, and the immune function of laying hens was also improved with 50 mg/kg SS supplementation. Surprisingly, the long-term supplementation of 500 mg/kg SS exerted a negative impact on the laying performance and physiological functions of the liver of laying hens.

Project description:Resveratrol (RV) is associated with protection against oxidative stress to improve health, however the effect of RV in layers under oxidative stress (OS) is limited. The objective of this experiment was to investigate the negative effect of OS and protective effects of RV against OS in laying hens. 40 Lohmann layers (25-wk-old; BW = 1.44±0.10 kg) were allocated to four treatments in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement with either RV (0 or 600 mg/kg) or intraperitoneal injection of tert-butyl hydroperoxide (tBHP) (0 or 800 μmol/kg BW) for 31 days. The results shown that the hens challenged with tBHP presented lower egg-laying rate, feed intake, feed efficiency and higher defective egg rate (P(tBHP)<0.05). The RV were also observed to attenuated egg laying rate and feed intake reduction together with decreased broken egg rate under t-BHP challenge (P(Interaction)≤0.01). The tBHP challenged layer demonstrated lower intestinal morphology (villus height in duodenum and jejunum), lower antioxidant enzymes activities [total superoxidase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC)], and glutathione (GSH) levels and higher malondialdehyde (MDA) level] (P(tBHP)<0.05). Dietary RV increased jejunal SOD, GSH-Px and T-AOC activities, and reduced MDA concentration (P(RV) ≤0.05). Layers under tBHP challenge up-regulated mRNA expression of pro-inflammatory cytokine [interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)] and nuclear factor NF-κB (P(tBHP)<0.05) in jejunum. Dietary RV supplementation down-regulated mRNA gene expression of IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α and NF-κB (P(RV) ≤0.05). Dietary RV up-regulated mRNA expression of jejunal barrier-related proteins (claudin-1, claudin-2, mucin-1, and occludin) and ovarian reproductive hormone receptor [steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR), androgen receptor (AR), estrogen receptor 1 (ESR1), and activin a receptor type 1 (ACVR1)] (P(RV) ≤0.05). Overall, the results indicate that tBHP induced oxidative stress to result in reducing production performance, intestinal health and induced ovarian inflammation; whereas dietary RV was able to maintain intestinal health and mitigate the negative impact of tBHP challenge on production performance and ovarian function.

Project description:Essential oils have been proven to exert multiple effects on growth performance, production quality, and health status in poultry nutrition, which is dependent on the component and/or dose of essential oils. Diets with the optimal combination of essential oils might be able to improve the performance traits and welfare of laying hens. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary essential oils, which are composed of cinnamaldehyde with carvacrol or thymol, on performance, egg quality, and intestinal health in post-peak laying hens. A total of 384, 50-week-old Hy-line brown laying hens were randomly divided into three groups with 8 replicates of 16 birds each: (1) a basal diet (Ctrl), (2) a basal diet with 100 mg/kg of essential oils consisting of 4.5% cinnamaldehyde with 13.5% carvacrol (CAR+CIN), and (3) a basal diet containing 100 mg/kg of essential oils composed of 4.5% cinnamaldehyde with 13.5% thymol (THY+CIN). The CAR+CIN diet increased the feed consumption from 52 to 55 weeks more than the Ctrl and the THY+CIN diet. Compared with the Ctrl group, the addition of essential oils decreased the dirty egg rate (P = 0.07) in the whole trial period. Regarding egg quality, the birds that received the CAR+CIN and THY+CIN diets increased the eggshell strength (P = 0.099) or Haugh unit (HU, p = 0.03) at 54 weeks, respectively. Supplementation of both CAR+CIN and THY+CIN diets significantly increased the ratio of villus height to crypt depth in the duodenum through increasing villus height and decreasing crypt depth as well as upregulated the mRNA abundances of duodenal occluding and cadherin (P < 0.05). However, the treatment with dietary essential oils did not notably change the proportion of cecal microbiota and bacterial diversity. This study suggested that dietary supplementation of cinnamaldehyde with carvacrol or thymol, the active components of essential oils, could promote egg quality in post-peak laying hens, which might be associated with improved intestinal development and barrier.

Project description:BackgroundThe utilization of mulberry branch fiber (MF), the largest by-product of the sericulture industry, is an important issue. Supplementation with MF as a dietary fiber for poultry may serve as a useful application. However, little is known about the effects of MF on liver lipid metabolism and egg yolk fatty acid composition of laying hens and their underlying mechanisms. In this study, we performed a multi-omics investigation to explore the variations in liver lipid metabolism, egg yolk fatty acid composition, gut microbiota, and the associations among them induced by dietary MF in laying hens.ResultsDietary MF had no harmful effects on the laying performance or egg quality in laying hens. The enzyme activities associated with lipid metabolism in the liver were altered by the addition of 5% MF, resulting in reduced liver fat accumulation. Furthermore, dietary 5% MF induced the variation in the fatty acid profiles of egg yolk, and increased the polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) content. We observed a significant reduction in the diversity of both gut bacteria and changes in their compositions after the addition of MF. Dietary MF significantly increased the abundance of genes involved in fatty acid biodegradation, and short-chain fatty acids biosynthesis in the gut microbiota of laying hens. The significant correlations were observed between the liver lipid metabolism enzyme activities of hepatic lipase, lipoprotein lipase, and total esterase with gut microbiota, including negative correlations with gut microbiota diversity, and multiple correlations with gut bacteria and viruses. Moreover, various correlations between the contents of PUFAs and monounsaturated fatty acids in egg yolk with the gut microbiota were obtained. Based on partial-least-squares path modeling integrated with the multi-omics datasets, we deduced the direct effects of liver enzyme activities and gut bacterial compositions on liver fat content and the roles of liver enzyme activities and gut bacterial diversity on egg yolk fatty acid composition.ConclusionsThe results indicate that dietary MF is beneficial to laying hens as it reduces the liver fat and improves egg yolk fatty acid composition through the enterohepatic axis. Video Abstract.

Project description:The compromised egg quality and leg abnormality during the end of the laying cycle (after 40 weeks) have been leading to poor animal welfare and substantial economic losses. Therefore, the effects of fermented calcium (Ca) butyrate, produced by fermentation by Clostridium butyricum, on production, eggshell quality, and tibial property of hens were explored. A total of 192 Hy-line brown laying hens at 50-week-old were assigned to a basal diet or the basal diet with 300 mg/kg of the fermented Ca butyrate from 50 to 58 weeks of age. Each treatment had 6 replicates with 16 hens each. The diet supplemented with 300 mg/kg fermented Ca butyrate notably increased egg weight, ovarian follicle number, and eggshell strength (P = 0.072) as compared to the basal diet, which were associated with cytokine secretion, toll-like receptor signaling pathways, and intestinal immunity based on the RNA-seq data from the granulosa. Dietary Ca butyrate inclusion decreased the expression of ileal tumor necrosis factor-alpha and serum pro-inflammatory cytokine concentration, as well as increased the content of serum immunoglobulin A when compared to the basal diet (both P < 0.05). The birds that received fermented Ca butyrate diets exhibited higher villus height (P < 0.05) and upregulated expression of tight junction proteins, whereas it did not alter the composition of cecal microbiota (P > 0.05). In addition, the diet with fermented Ca butyrate reduced the number of osteoclasts in the proximal tibia and the level of C-terminal cross-linked telopeptide of type I collagen, a bone resorption marker (P < 0.05), whereas it tended to increase the concentration of the procollagen type I N-terminal propeptide that reflects bone formation marker in serum. Moreover, the layers fed fermented Ca butyrate diets possessed higher (P < 0.05) bone area and trabecular number of the proximal tibia, yield load, and ultimate load than those that consumed basal diets. Collectively, dietary fermented Ca butyrate supplementation in post-peak layer diets improved the ovarian function and tibia quality, which might be related to enhancing intestinal integrity and consequently decreasing inflammation mediated bone resorption.

Dataset Information

Melatonin implantation improved the egg-laying rate and quality in hens past their peak egg-laying age.

Publications

Melatonin implantation improved the egg-laying rate and quality in hens past their peak egg-laying age.

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