Comparison of the Use of Dietary Aluminum with the Use of Feed Restriction for Force-Molting Laying Hens

Abstract

Use of a high level of dietary aluminum was compared with a conventional feed restriction procedure for force-molting of Single Comb White Leghorn hens. Six replicate groups of 10 or 12 hens, 72 wk of age, housed 2 per cage, were randomly assigned to Treatments A and B, and 12 replicate groups were assigned to Treatment C. Hens in Treatments A and B were fed ad libitum a corn-soybean meal diet (15% CP, 3.5% Ca and .35% available P) containing .3% Al as aluminum sulfate. Hens in Treatment C were completely feed restricted for 10 days. Oyster shell was provided at 27 g/bird in Treatments B and C on the day before die start of the molting procedure. Water was provided ad libitum for all treatments. The effective photoperiod was reduced to 9 h. A diet containing 13% CP and 1% Ca was provided at 45 g/bird per day, starting 2 or 3 days following cessation of egg production and continuing until Day 28. On Day 29 the photoperiod was increased to 16 h, and hens were fed a layer diet.Egg production completely ceased by Day 7 for hens in Treatment C and almost ceased (3%) by Day 15 for hens in Treatments A and B. Body weight loss for hens in Treatment C was significantly greater than for aluminum-treated hens after 10 days. Feed intake of Al-fed hens averaged 43 g/hen per day. During a 14-wk postmolting period, no significant differences among treatments were observed in feed intake, egg production, and egg shell breaking strength. No differences among treatments were observed in plasma total calcium and inorganic phosphorus measured during the molting or the postmolting period. The results indicate that dietary aluminum can be used as a force-molting agent for laying hens. (

Tomato pomace and safflower meal as ingredients in non-feed-removal molt diets

“…Some diets have included 20,000 mg/kg of Zn as ZnO [9] and less than 0.3% Ca [10][11][12][13]. Also assessed have been Na-deficient diets [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] along with 2,500 to 5,000 mg/kg of I as KI [23], and supplementation with Al [24][25][26].…”

Some Effects of Dietary Aluminum and Silicon on Broiler Chickens

“…Ondreicka et al (1971) showed that aluminum-supplemented rats retained less tissue phosphorus-32 and had higher fecal phosphorus and lower urinary phosphorus than control animals. Aluminum (3,000 mg/kg) has been used to force-molt Japanese quail hens (Hussein et al, 1988) and Single Comb White Leghorn hens (Hussein et al, 1989b). Aluminum will decrease plasma inorganic phosphorus in Japanese quail hens (Hussein et al, 1988), in Single Comb White Leghorn hens (Hussein et al, 1989a), and in the progeny of a Single Comb White Leghorn hen x broiler breeder male cross (Wiser et al, 1990).…”

Salmonella Enteritidis in shell eggs: Current issues and prospects for control

“…Moore et al (2004) also found that the use of zinc had the potential to lessen colonization by S. Enteritidis during molt. Aluminum or potassium iodide have also proven to halt egg production (Arrington, Santa Cruz, Harms, & Wilson, 1967;Hussein, Cantor, & Johnson, 1989;McCormick & Cunningham, 1987), but these diets yield inconsistent results, cost more, and may induce birds to peck one another (Webster, 2003;Biggs, Persia, Koelkebeck, & Parsons, 2004). Natural products have also been tested.…”