Nine Bornean river turtles (Orlitia borneensis, Gray, 1873) suffering from lethargy, ulcerations and caseous necrosis of the plastron were evaluated for haematology and plasma chemistry. Intra-erythrocytic haemogregarine parasites were associated with anaemia, low haemoglobin, basophilia, eosinophilia, heterophilia and azurophilia. After eight months of treatment consisting of antibiotics, debridement and scrubbing of lesions with enilconazole or povidone iodine, rehydration, deworming and tube feeding, lymphocytes, basophils, eosinophils, heterophils and azurophils returned to the normal ranges. Haematocrit, RBC and haemoglobin concentration were under the normal ranges in 24 months. A progressive decrease in haemogregarine parasitaemia was also seen, however, haematologic changes could not be definitely attributed to these parasites.

At present there are important changes in housing systems in laying hen husbandry. Henceforward, only alternative husbandry systems shall be allowed, among which deep litter systems can be included. Therefore, many authors are engaged in the investigation of alternative systems, their advantages and disadvantages.Savory (2004) stated that from the welfare viewpoint cage systems were burdened with a lack of space for laying hens, however, conversely they ensured the better health status of laying hens. Petermann (2003) concluded that alternative aviary systems with deep litter were burdened with higher mortality of laying hens. De Boer and Cornelissen (2002) considered battery cages to be more favourable than aviary systems, in particular from the viewpoint of stock economics, ammonia emission, egg quality and farmer welfare. Duncan (2001) analysed advantages and disadvantages of battery cage systems. He considered the low incidence of diseases, low incidence of social frictions, and the absence of problems resulting from litter as the main advantages. The disadvantages were found to be a lack of both physical and psychological space for laying hens, lack of space for daily activities and nesting and dust bathing opportunities, and a higher incidence of foot lesions. Cooper and Albentosa (2003) ABSTRACT: At present the laying hen rearing is transformed into alternative housing systems which include a deep litter system. As for the poultry nutrition, the replacement of animal protein with vegetable protein in poultry feed is applied. Therefore, in an experiment we evaluated the quality of eggs from laying hens in the cage system as compared to the deep litter system with vegetable protein substituted for animal protein in their feed. 72 ISA Brown laying hens were placed into the experiment. 36 laying hens were kept in the deep litter system and 36 laying hens were kept in conventional cages for laying hens. For the period of 9 months, 36 eggs from the group in the deep litter system were examined, always at intervals of five weeks (i.e. 8 × 36 eggs) and so were 36 eggs from the group in the cage system (i.e. 8 × 36 eggs). We found out that in the deep litter system the mean egg weight was higher (P < 0.01), shell weight was lower (P < 0.01), egg albumen was higher (P < 0.01), yolk weight did not differ (P > 0.05), yolk cholesterol was higher (P < 0.01), yolk colour was darker (P < 0.05), shell strength did not differ (P > 0.05), all in comparison with the cage system of laying hen keeping. The results of the experiment show that where vegetable protein was substituted for animal protein in the nutrition of laying hens, there were differences in the quality of eggs from laying hens kept in the deep litter system and eggs from laying hens kept in the cage system.