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Investigation of bone health of laying hens (LSL) during rearing with and without access to daylight
Project
Project code: FLI-ITT-08-Petow
Contract period: 01.04.2018
- 30.09.2021
Purpose of research: Applied research
Keywords: animal husbandry, animal health, laying hens, keel bone fractures and deformation
A major problem, both from the point of view of animal welfare and economic aspects, are keel bone damages in laying hens. Keel bone damage is a collective term for fractures and deformations, although the development of the deformations is not yet clear. Our own studies have shown that deformations already exist in adult animals, which must have already occurred during the rearing phase. Since vitamin D is indispensable for the formation of healthy bones in vertebrate animals and for the production of this hormone sunlight (UVB) is needed, in this study two groups of laying hens with and without daylight exposure are to be examined. For this purpose, the animals are stabled as day-old chicks and from the 6th week of life receives a group access to an outdoor range. All other parameters are the same for both groups. There are 2-weekly blood and X-ray examinations. After 16 weeks of age, at the end of the experiment, the animals are killed and the tibiae and keel bone are removed. A tibia is histologically prepared and measured. The other tibia is chemically analyzed to obtain information about the bone composition.
Section overview
Subjects
- Animal Husbandry
- Animal health
Framework programme
Funding programme
Excutive institution
FLI - Institute for Animal Welfare and Animal Husbandry (FLI - ITT)
