Examination of live weight distribution of laying hen genotypes in different housing systems
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17205/aweth.7052Keywords:
laying hybrid, husbandry, live weight variation, live weight distribution, egg productionAbstract
Nowadays, there is an urgent need to find viable solutions to improve the production efficiency of non-caged farming systems, which could replace former housing systems if the EU bans all cage systems. The study examined differences in live weight and distribution among laying hybrids after 19 weeks of uniform rearing and analysed the impact of different housing systems on live weight and its variation up to 96 weeks of age. Studies were carried out at the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences in Kaposvár with 3 genotypes provided by Bábolna TETRA Ltd.: a1 = Tetra-1 (White Leghorn); a2 = Tetra-2 (Classical Brown layer); a3 = Tetra-3 (Reciprocal crossbred Brown layer). N = 1.254 laying hens were housed in test house. 3 housing types tested were: b1 = conventional cage (630 cm2/hens); b2 = EU-conform enriched cage (756 cm2/hens); b3 = floor system (1042 cm2/hens, grid floor, deep litter combination). For our statistical calculations we used GLM with SAS 9.4. At 19 weeks, Tetra-1 weighed 1.29 kg, while Tetra-2 and 3 averaged 1.46 kg. At 96 weeks, Tetra-1 maintained 1.76 kg across housing types. Tetra-2 weighed 1.88 kg in cages, 2.01 kg in floor system. Tetra-3 had lowest weight in cages, higher in other systems. Our main conclusion is the differences between the tested experimental genotypes and the housing systems were significantly different and were interaction. Egg producers are advised to select the most suitable laying hybrid for the type of housing system.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Pető Lila, Orbán Attila, Farkas Tamás Péter, Bódog Leila Gabriella, Szász Sándor, Sütő Zoltán

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