Effects of Hen Age and Force Molting Programs on Body Weight Loss and Heterophil: Lymphocyte Ratio during Molt Period in Laying Hens

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of hen age and force molting programs on body weight loss, egg production cease and heterophil:lymphocyte ratio during molt period. The experiment was conducted using 320 Hy-Line W36 hens randomly assigned to experimental groups (five replicates of 8 hens for each treatment). The experimental design of the study was a 2 × 4 factorial arrangement of a completely randomized design. Eight treatments were compared in a 2 x 4 factorial arrangement with 2 age treatment (63 and 75 week of age) and 4 force molting treatments [feed withdrawal (FW), 100% alfalfa (A), 50% alfalfa and 50%oat (AO), and 100% oat (O)]). The hen age had no significant effect on BW loss, cease egg production and H: L ratio during molt period. The FW had significantly (P<0.01) higher BW loss than AO and O treatments and it was similar to A treatment. Egg production for all treatments ceased completely by day 6. H: L ratio were significantly higher for FW treatment when compared with nonfeed withdrawal treatments. The results indicated that alfalfa or oat appears to be alternatives to FW methods for force molting.

Performance of ISA Brown commercial layer after forced molting

“…Ruszler (1998) showed that for successful molting the body weight loss should be between 15-40% during molting period. According to Petek et al (2008), Aygun and Olgun (2010) and Aygun (2013) found that body weight loss may be (19.70%) and (19.77%) during molting period. In this experiment body weight was also decreased in molting period about 10-12%.…”