Relationship between Bone Quality, Egg Production and Eggshell Quality in Laying Hens at the End of an Extended Production Cycle (105 Weeks)

Alfonso-Carrillo, C.; Benavides-Reyes, Cristina; Mozos, J. de los; Domínguez-Gasca, Nazaret; Sánchez-Rodriguez, Estefanía; García-Ruíz, A. I.; Rodríguez‐Navarro, Alejandro B.

doi:10.3390/ani11030623

Cited by 46 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…Medullary bone was clearly more mineralised in both breeds when housed in pens. In this study, there is little apparent correlation between medullary bone and bone strength, but other studies have found association between medullary mineralisation and bone strength (Alfonso-Carrillo et al, 2021; Rodriguez-Navarro et al, 2018). Thus, variation in medullary bone is an important contributor to variability in bone mineral content and mechanical properties, both in terms of genetic variation and response to exercise.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 80%

Genetics of tibia bone properties of crossbred commercial laying hens in different housing systems

Johnsson

Wall

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Osteoporosis and bone fractures are a severe problem for the welfare of laying hens, with genetics and environment, such as housing system, each making substantial contributions to bone strength. In this work, we performed genetic analyses of bone strength, bone mineral density and bone composition, as well as body weight, in 860 commercial crossbred laying hens from two different companies, kept in either furnished cages or floor pens. We compared bone traits between housing systems and crossbreds, and performed a genome-wide association study of bone properties and body weight. As expected, the two housing systems produced a large difference in bone strength, with layers housed in floor pens having stronger bones. These differences were accompanied by differences in bone geometry, mineralisation and chemical composition. Genome-scans either combining or independently analysing the two housing systems revealed no genome-wide significant loci for bone breaking strength. We detected three loci for body weight that were shared between the housing systems on chromosomes 4, 6 and 27 (either genome-wide significant or suggestive when the housing systems were analysed individually) and these coincide with associations for bone length. In summary, we found substantial differences in bone strength, content and composition between hens kept in floor pens and furnished cages that could be attributed to greater physical activity in pen housing. We found little evidence for large-effect loci for bone strength in commercial crossbred hens, consistent with a highly polygenic architecture for bone strength in the production environment. The lack of consistent genetic associations between housing systems in combination with the differences in bone phenotypes support gene-by-environment interactions with housing system.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 80%

Genetics of tibia bone properties of crossbred commercial laying hens in different housing systems

Johnsson

Wall

et al. 2021

Preprint

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“…As the egg cycle extended, the numbers of soft-shelled and cracked eggs increased, which may be attributed to reduction of Ca absorption, stress, or poor physical quality [52][53][54]. The current results indicate that hens fed Bacillus subtilis had a lower incidence of both soft-shelled and cracked eggs but there was no strong evidence of the improvement of eggshell strength and thickness [55].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 54%

“…Previous study reported that probiotic efficiency as a growth promotor is affected by multiple factors, such as the type of probiotics, the length of feeding time and concentration [31], the isolation sources of probiotics, breed of laying hens, and their life-stage [59]. In addition, Alfonso-Carrillo et al [54] indicated that the promotion of egg production, eggshell quality, and bone traits in laying hens can occur independently through dietary treatment. Therefore, we speculate that Bacillus subtilis is more likely to improve bone traits rather than egg or eggshell quality.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Bacillus subtilis on Production Performance, Bone Physiological Property, and Hematology Indexes in Laying Hens

Zou

Jiang

et al. 2021

Animals

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This study was to investigate the effects of Bacillus subtilis on production performance and bone pathophysiological characteristics of layers. Twenty-four 48-week-old Lohmann Pink-shell laying hens were randomly divided into two groups: a basic diet (control) and the basic diet mixed with Bacillus subtilis (0.5 g/kg) for a 60-day trial. Statistically, independent-sample t-test was used to assess the treatment differences. The results showed that Bacillus subtilis supplementation improved the percent of marketable eggs (p < 0.05) with reduced numbers of broken and soft-shelled eggs but had no effects on egg weight, height of albumen, yolk color, and Haugh unit (p > 0.05). Bacillus subtilis supplement also elevated maximum load (p = 0.06), maximum stress (p = 0.01), stiffness (p < 0.01), and Young’s modulus (p < 0.01) but suppressed maximum strain (p = 0.06) in the femur. In addition, compared with control birds, phosphorous concentration (p < 0.01) was reduced in serum at day 61 but increased in the femur (p < 0.05) in Bacillus subtilis fed birds. Bacillus subtilis fed birds also had lower magnesium concentrations in both femur (p = 0.04) and feces (p = 0.09). Furthermore, Bacillus subtilis increased plasma estrogen concentration (p = 0.01) and femur TNF receptor superfamily member 11b (OPG) expression (p < 0.05) but reduced plasma IL-1 (p < 0.01) and TNF-α (p < 0.01) concentrations. These results indicate that Bacillus subtilis could be used as a health promotor to reduce overproduction-induced inflammation and associated bone damage and to increase marketable egg production. The data provide evidence for developing a management strategy to use Bacillus subtilis as a feed additive to improve marketable egg production and health and welfare status of laying hens.

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“…According to Kim et al (2005) , high eggshell quality is associated with poorer bone quality, because hens that show high eggshell Ca deposition also show high bone Ca mobilization, increasing the incidence of fractures. Moreover, Eusemann et al (2018) showed that the bone fracture incidence was reduced in a low-producing line compared to a high-producing line Conversely, Alfonso-Carrillo et al (2021) did not show any correlation between eggshell quality (eggshell percentage, eggshell thickness, and eggshell breaking strength) and bone quality during an extended laying cycle of 100 wk. According to these authors, bone characteristics and eggshell characteristics are independent and could be improved separately.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Effect of limestone particle size on performance, eggshell quality, bone strength, and in vitro/in vivo solubility in laying hens: a meta-analysis approach

et al. 2022

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Numerous publications over the past 5 decades have investigated the effect of limestone particle size ( LmPS ) on production performance, bone mineralization, and limestone solubilization in laying hens. Coarse limestone particles have been shown to improve eggshell quality and bone mineralization. However, there is a large variability of responses in birds to this factor, indicating the need to better quantify the effect of modulating factors related to coarse particles that could explain this variability. The objective of this meta-analysis was to study the impact of LmPS on the digestive and metabolic fate of Ca to optimize its utilization by laying hens. Fifty-eight papers published between 1971 and 2019, including 71 experiments were included in this study. Four categories of dependent variables were identified: Ca solubility, production performance, eggshell quality, and bone strength. Independent variables tested were LmPS and age. Results showed that the in vitro solubilization of limestone linearly decreased ( P < 0.001; R² = 0.91) while in vivo solubilization linearly increased with LmPS ( P < 0.001; R² = 0.91). Coarse limestone particles were retained longer in the gizzard ( P < 0.001; R² = 0.60), inducing higher solubilization by gastric juices than fine limestone. LmPS showed no effect on production performance while all eggshell quality parameters increased with LmPS ( P < 0.001; R² > 0.91): increasing specific gravity by 0.8%, eggshell thickness by 1.1%, and eggshell breaking strength by 3% when increasing from 0.15 mm to 1.5 mm. LmPS had an effect on tibia breaking strength dependently of age (Age × LmPS, P < 0.001; R² = 0.89): coarse limestone particles increased tibia breaking strength with aging compared to fine limestone particles. The current study renders it possible to quantify the effects of age and LmPS on eggshell quality and tibia breaking strength. This work showed an interaction between eggshell quality and bone strength and showed that LmPS increases bone strength in older laying hens.

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Relationship between Bone Quality, Egg Production and Eggshell Quality in Laying Hens at the End of an Extended Production Cycle (105 Weeks)

Cited by 46 publications

References 33 publications

Genetics of tibia bone properties of crossbred commercial laying hens in different housing systems

Genetics of tibia bone properties of crossbred commercial laying hens in different housing systems

Effects of Bacillus subtilis on Production Performance, Bone Physiological Property, and Hematology Indexes in Laying Hens

Effect of limestone particle size on performance, eggshell quality, bone strength, and in vitro/in vivo solubility in laying hens: a meta-analysis approach

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