• Animal Bioscience
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• 제34권5호
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• pp.811-823
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• 2021

Objective: Eggshell color is an important indicator of egg quality for consumers, especially for brown eggs. Various factors related to laying hens and their environment affect brown eggshell coloration. However, there have been no studies investigating hepatic functions of laying hens with variable intensity of brown eggshell color. Therefore, this study was aimed to identify potential factors affecting brown eggshell coloration in aged laying hens at the hepatic transcriptomic level. Methods: Five hundred 92-wk-old Hy-line Brown laying hens were screened to select laying hens with different intensity of brown eggshell color based on eggshell color fans. Based on eggshell color scores, hens with dark brown eggshells (DBE; eggshell color fan score = 14.8) and hens with light brown eggshells (LBE; eggshell color fan score = 9.7) were finally selected for the liver sampling. We performed RNA-seq analysis using the liver samples through the paired-end sequencing libraries. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) profiling was carried out to identify their biological meaning by bioinformatics. Results: A total of 290 DEGs were identified with 196 being up-regulated and 94 being down-regulated in DBE groups as compared to LBE groups. The Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) analysis revealed that these DEGs belong to several biological pathways including herpes simplex infection (toll-like receptor 3 [TLR3], cyclin-dependent kinase 1, etc.) and influenza A (TLR3, radical S-adenosyl methionine domain containing 2, myxovirus [influenza virus] resistance 1, etc.). Genes related to stress response (ceremide kinase like) and nutrient metabolism (phosphoenolpyruvate carboxy-kinase 1, methylmalonic aciduria [cobalamin deficiency] cblB type, glycine receptor alpha 2, solute carrier family 7 member 11, etc.) were also identified to be differentially expressed. Conclusion: The current results provide new insights regarding hepatic molecular functions related to different intensity of brown eggshell color in aged laying hens. These insights will contribute to future studies aiming to optimize brown eggshell coloration in aged laying hens.

• 한국환경과학회지
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• 제26권7호
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• pp.869-874
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• 2017

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation of various types of fermented red ginseng marc with red koji to laying hens on eggshell and egg yolk quality characteristics. A total of 240 Hy-line Brown laying hens (40 wk of age) were randomly allotted to 24 pens (6 replicates per treatment and 10 laying hens per replicate). Experimental diets consisted of 4 treatments containing basal diet (control), 1% fermented red ginseng marc powder with red koji, 1% fermented red ginseng marc pelleted with red koji and 1% fermented red ginseng marc coated with red koji. During the 8-wk feeding trial, there were no significant differences in eggshell strength, eggshell thickness and eggshell color among the treatments, except for eggshell strength at 4 and 8 wk and eggshell thickness at 0 wk. In addition, no differences in egg yolk color and egg yolk index were found for all treatments throughout the 8-wk feeding period, except for egg yolk color at 0 wk. Thus, using various types of fermented red ginseng marc with red koji to laying hens did not improve eggshell and egg yolk quality characteristics.

• 한국가금학회지
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• 제49권2호
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• pp.53-60
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• 2022

계란의 내부 및 외부의 품질을 나타내는 요소들 사이의 상관 관계를 분석하여, 할란 검사를 통하지 않고도 계란 품질을 예측하는데 적합한 지표가 있는지 알아보기 위한 실험을 수행하였다. 케이지 계사에서 사육 중인 27주령의 하이라인 브라운 산란계 동일 계군이 같은 날에 산란한 180개의 계란을 수집하였다. 분석 항목으로는 호우유닛, 농후난백높이, 파각 강도, 난각 두께, 난각 색(CIE L^*, CIE a^*, CIE b^*, 반사율), 계란의 중량, 계란의 장경, 계란의 폭, 난형 지수 및 난황색 등 총 13가지의 지표를 조사하였다. 피어슨 상관 계수(r)를 이용하여, 각 품질 지표 사이의 선형 관계성을 평가하였다. 호우유닛과 농후난백높이, 난각색 CIE L^*값과 반사율, 그리고 계란 중량과 계란의 폭 사이에서 매우 강한 정의 상관 관계가 분석되었다(r=0.975, r=0.973, r=0.814, P<0.001). 계란의 중량과 계란의 장경, 난각색 CIE L^*값과 난각색 CIE a^*값, 난각색 CIE a^*값와 반사율, 그리고 난형 지수와 계란의 장경 사이에는 높은 상관 관계가 나타났다(r=0.703, r=-0.726, r=-0.681, r=-0.681, P<0.001). 난각의 파각 강도와 난각의 두께, 난각색 CIE a^*값과 난각색 CIE b^*, 난형 지수와 계란의 폭 사이에는 중간 정도의 상관 관계가 나타났다(r = 0.417, r = 0.590, r = 0.405, P<0.001). 난각색 CIE a^*값은 호우유닛, 농후난백높이와 약한 정의 상관 관계가 있었으며(r=0.217, r=0.202, P<0.01), 난각색 CIE L^*값과 파각 강도 사이에는 약한 부의 상관 관계가 나타났다(r=-0.236, P<0.01). 난각색 CIE b^*값은 난각 두께와 약한 부의 상관 관계를 보였고, 난각색 반사율은 파각 강도 및 난각 두께와 약한 부의 상관 관계에 있는 것으로 나타났다(r=-0.225, r=-0.249, r=-0.222, P<0.01). 그 외 나머지 품질 지표들 간의 상관성은 통계적으로 유의하지 않거나 관계가 없는 것으로 나타났다. 갈색란의 난각색은 반사율만으로 표현하는 것 보다, CIE L^*값, CIE a^*값과 CIE b^*값을 함께 적용했을 때 갈색의 정도를 더 구체적으로 표현한다. 결론적으로 본 연구를 바탕으로 갈색란의 난각색 CIE L^*a^*b^*값은 계란의 품질 지표인 호우유닛, 농후난백높이, 난각의 파각 강도와 두께를 간접적으로 예측하는데 사용할 수 있을 것으로 판단되었다.

• 농업과학연구
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• 제46권3호
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• pp.569-577
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• 2019

The current experiment was conducted to compare nutrient utilization in the aged laying hens with different eggshell strengths or different intensities of brown eggshell color. Two metabolic trials with 96-week-old Hy-Line Brown laying hens were conducted. Twelve hens with a strong eggshell strength (SES) and 12 hens with a weak eggshell strength (WES) were selected and used in the first experiment, whereas 12 hens with dark brown eggshells (DBE) and 12 hens with light brown eggshells (LBE) were selected and used in the second experiment. All hens were fed a common commercial layer diet. Diets included chromic oxide as an indigestible marker to determine the apparent total tract retention (ATTR) of the gross energy (GE), dry matter, acid-hydrolyzed ether extract, nitrogen, neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, ash, and minerals. The results indicate that the ATTR of Ca in the aged laying hens with SES (59.7%) was greater (p < 0.05) than in the aged laying hens with WES (48.6%). However, the ATTR of the GE and other nutrients was not different between the hens with SES or WES. There were no differences in the ATTR of GE and nutrients between the hens with DBE or LBE. In conclusion, aged laying hens with SES have a greater ability to utilize dietary Ca than those with WES, indicating that the extent of dietary Ca utilization determines the eggshell strength of aged laying hens. However, nutrient utilization in diets may have little impact on eggshell brown coloration in aged laying hens.

• 한국가금학회지
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• 제30권1호
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• pp.29-34
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• 2003

본 실험은 한국인들이 선호하는 갈색란을 생산하면서, 동시에 가금티푸스에 대하여는 저항성을 가지는 합성종 계통의 닭을 육성하고자 하는 시도의 일환으로 수행되었다. 즉 백색란 생산계통(W)과 갈색란 생산계통(B)을 교잡하여 가금티푸스 저항성을 보유하면서도 어느 정토 갈색을 띄는 계란을 생산하는 합성종에서 얻어진 계란에 대한 소비자 선호도를 조사하므로서, 합성종에서 얻어진 중간 갈색란의 시장성을 분석하고자 하였다. 백색란(White)은 SCWL 계통인 Hyline(H)에서 생산된 백색란(HW$\times$HB) 30개를 시료로 공시하였으며. 이들의 평균 난각색은 81.9였다. 그리고 갈색란(Brown)은 ISA(I)에서 생산된 갈색란(IW$\times$IB) 30개를 시료로 사용하였고, 이들의 평균 난각색은 36.4였다. 이 두 품종 이외에 Lohman(L)도 공시하여서, 백색란(W) 산란계 수컷(H,I,L)과 갈색란(B) 산란계 암컷(H, I, L)을 교배하여 (HW $\times$ HB), (IW $\times$ HB), (HW $\times$ IB), (IW $\times$ IB), (LW $\times$ LB)의 각 교배별로 생산된 계란 중 산란 최고기인 38~40주령에 난을 채집하여 각 교배구의 평균 난각색을 구한 후, 그 중 평균값이 70 (Trt-White, 백색에 가까운 계란), 60 (Middle, 백색과 갈색의 중간) 및 50 (Trt-Brown, 갈색에 가까운 계란)에 해당하는 계란 30개씩을 선정하여 사용하였다(Fig. 1). 대전지역에 거주하는 총 247명의 주부 및 학생을 대상으로 2회에 걸친 설문 조사를 하였다. 첫 번째 설문지는 설문자들에게 아무런 사전지식을 주지 않고 난각의 색으로만 기호도를 평가하도록 하였다. 두 번째 설문지는 설문자들에게 계란의 난각색이 영양면이나 조리ㆍ가공시 서로 차이가 없다는 사전지식을 제공한 후, 난각색과 가격을 동시에 고려한 선호도(구매의욕)를 조사하였다. 그 결과 난각색과 영양에 대한 교육을 하기전인 첫 번째 질문에서는 갈색란(Brown)을 가장 좋아하며, 난각색이 흰색에 가까운 시료(Trt-White)를 가장 싫어하는 것으로 나타났으며, 갈색란(Brown)과 난각색이 갈색에 가까운 시료(Trt-Brown)사이와 백색란(White)과 백색에 가까운 시료(Trt-White) 사이에는 통계적으로 유의차가 없었다. 난각색과 영양이 상관이 없다는 것을 교육한 후 실시한 두 번째 설문에서는 갈색에 가까운 계란(Tn-Brown)을 가장 좋아하여 1순위와 2순위가 바뀐 것 이외에는 첫 번째 질문의 결과와 같았다. 결론적으로 현재 우리나라에서는 갈색 정도의 차이 문제이지 갈색란을 좋아함을 알 수 있었고, 교육에 의해 조금씩은 고정 관념을 바꿀 수 있는 가능성을 확인할 수 있었다.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제33권8호
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• pp.1217-1223
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• 2020

Objective: Eggshells with a uniform color and intensity are important for egg production because many consumers assess the quality of an egg according to the shell color. In the present study, we evaluated the influence of dominant effects on the variations in eggshell color after 32 weeks in a crossbred population. Methods: This study was conducted using 7,878 eggshell records from 2,626 hens. Heritability was estimated using a univariate animal model, which included inbreeding coefficients as a fixed effect and animal additive genetic, dominant genetic, and residuals as random effects. Genetic correlations were obtained using a bivariate animal model. The optimal diagnostic criteria identified in this study were: L^🟉 value (lightness) using a dominance model, and a^🟉 (redness), and b^🟉 (yellowness) value using an additive model. Results: The estimated heritabilities were 0.65 for shell lightness, 0.42 for redness, and 0.60 for yellowness. The dominance heritability was 0.23 for lightness. The estimated genetic correlations were 0.61 between lightness and redness, -0.84 between lightness and yellowness, and -0.39 between redness and yellowness. Conclusion: These results indicate that dominant genetic effects could help to explain the phenotypic variance in eggshell color, especially based on data from blue-shelled chickens. Considering the dominant genetic variation identified for shell color, this variation should be employed to produce blue eggs for commercial purposes using a planned mating system.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제23권7호
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• pp.946-951
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• 2010

The objective of this research was to evaluate the effects of dietary supplementation of blood meal (BM) as a source of histidine, and magnesium oxide (MgO) as a catalyst of carnosine synthetase, on carnosine (L-Car) content in the chicken breast muscle (CBM), laying performance, and egg quality of spent old hens. Four hundred eighty laying hens (Hy-Line$^{(R)}$ Brown), 95wk old, were allotted randomly into five replicates of six dietary treatments: T1; 100% basal diet, T2; 100% basal diet+MgO, T3; 97.5% basal diet+2.5% BM, T4; 97.5% basal diet+2.5% BM+MgO, T5; 95% basal diet+5% BM, T6; 95% basal diet+5% BM+MgO. Magnesium oxide was added at 0.3% of diets. The layers were fed experimental diets for 5wk. There were no significant differences in the weekly L-Car content in CBM among all treatments during the total experimental period, but some of the contrast comparisions showed higher L-Car in CBM of T6. The L-Car contents linearly decreased (p<0.01 or p<0.05) as the layers got older except in T4 (p>0.05). There were significant differences in egg weight (p<0.01) and soft and broken egg ratio (p<0.05). The control (T1) was highest in egg weight and T6 was lowest in soft and broken egg ratio. Among the parameters of egg quality, there were significant differences in eggshell strength (p<0.01) and egg yolk color (p<0.05). Magnesium oxide supplementation increased the eggshell strength and BM tended to decrease egg yolk color. Eggshell color, eggshell thickness, and Haugh unit were not influenced by BM and MgO. In conclusion, BM and MgO did not significantly influence the L-Car in CBM of spent layers. The L-Car content rapidly decreased as the layers became senescent. Eggshell strength was increased by MgO supplementation.

• 한국환경과학회지
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• 제28권1호
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• pp.159-162
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• 2019

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of dietary microbial-fermented molasses on egg production and egg quality in laying hens.In total, 90 Hy-line Brown laying hens were divided into two treatment groups (control and 1% microbial-fermented molasses)with three replicates of 15 birds each. During the experimental period, supplementation of hen diets with 1% microbial-fermented molassesdid not influence egg weight, hen-day egg production, egg mass, and feed conversion ratio (p > 0.05), except for feed intake. Regarding egg quality, diets containing 1% microbial-fermented molasses significantly affected eggshell thickness, Haugh unit, and albumen height (p < 0.05). However, there were no remarkable differences between control and 1% microbial-fermented molasses in eggshell color and egg yolk color (p > 0.05). These results indicate that supplementing 1% microbial-fermented molasses to the diet of laying hens improved egg quality parameters such as eggshell thickness, Haugh unit, and albumen height rather than egg production.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제23권2호
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• pp.162-168
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• 2010

This study attempted to clarify the difference in eggshell pigmentation between blue-shelled ducks (BSD) and whiteshelled ducks (WSD). The eggshell pigmentation deposition process is discussed. Ultraviolet spectro-photometer and HPLC were used to determine the biliverdin concentration in the shell gland, uterus liquid and eggshell at 6, 12, 18, 20, 23.5 h post-oviposition. The biliverdin concentration in the eggshell and uterus fluid showed significant differences between BSD and WSD, but not in the shell gland. The heme oxygenase activity in the shell gland of both kinds of ducks remained mostly constant during the ovulatory cycle with no variation. The assay of exogenous biliverdin injection into the shell gland antrum in the WSD indicated that exogenous biliverdin could be deposited continuously into the eggshell until the source was exhausted. A layer-by-layer dissolution assay was used to examine the eggshell pigment deposition process. The biliverdin concentration in the first to sixth layers of the eggshell in the BSD was significantly higher than that in the white-shelled counterpart. The blue pigment concentration increased persistently from the 6th layer to the $1^{st}$ layer. The BSD eggshells did not accumulate a large quantity of biliverdin in the most external layer. They tended to increase the deposition layer by layer. Our results demonstrated that different BSD and WSD eggshell colors were influenced by the amount of biliverdin in the uterus fluid and not determined by the amount of biliverdin in the shell gland. This implies the existence of a mechanism that controls biliverdin transportation from the shell gland into the uterus fluid, thereby playing a key role in regulating duck eggshell color.

• 한국버섯학회지
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• 제20권4호
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• pp.254-257
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• 2022

Owing to its excellent nutritional value, eggs are among the most important components of the human diet. Gender and environmental factors, such as feed composition, may alter the nutritional profile and quality of eggs. Feed additives have recently been used to enhance the health and productivity of hens, which has resulted in the production of higher-quality eggs. The fungus Cordyceps militaris, a well-established source of traditional medicines, contains potential bioactive metabolites, which prompted us to examine the effects of C. militaris-supplemented diets on the quality of hens' eggs. The hens of two species (Gallus gallus domesticus and Araucana) were fed with one of three different diets: a control diet and diets supplemented with 2% or 5% of C. militaris. Egg quality was determined by measuring the Haugh Unit, yolk color, and shell thickness. In addition, egg and shell densities together with the ratio of yolk to albumen were calculated. Eggshell thickness and yolk color were both enhanced by the addition of C. militaris, whereas Haugh Unit values were somewhat reduced. Egg size, eggshell weight, and yolk and albumen production were all enhanced by C. militaris supplementation. Notably, in hens fed the 2% C. militaris-supplemented diet, enhancement was more evident in the yolk than in the albumen. The overall quality of the egg yolk was enhanced when 2% C. militaris was added to the hens' diet, which led to increases in both yolk color and quantity. Eggshell thickness and weight were also higher among eggs laid by hens fed the supplemented diets. Although these effects differed depending on the chicken species, we established that, in general, C. militaris contributes to improving egg quality.