875
RESEARCH NOTES
REFERENCES Ackerson, C. W., W. E. Ham and F. E. Mussehl, 1940. The utilization of food elements by growing chicks. IX. The nitrogen of urea. Nebraska Agric. Exp. Sta. Res. Bui. 120. Bice, C. M., and L. A. Dean, 1942. Utilization of
urea nitrogen by growing chicks. Poultry Sci. 21: 15-17. Slinger, S. J., W. F. Pepper, D. C. Hill and H. D. Branion, 1952. Effect of penicillin on the growth and feed efficiency of chicks fed urea. Poultry Sci. 31:1106-1108.
G I L B E R T C H I N AND A. W.
BRANT
Bureau of Animal Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, Maryland (Received for publication May 14, 1953)
With the introduction of aureomycin supplements in poultry growing mashes, it is of interest to note whether this antibiotic, when fed to laying birds, has any influence on egg quality factors. Observations on blood and meat spot incidence are of particular interest because of the controversy surrounding the effect of aureomycin on clotting time of blood (Macht and Farkas, 1949; Parker and Wright, 1952). For this study, size and incidence of blood and meat spots, shell thickness, egg weight, and albumen quality were observed in eggs from hens fed various levels of aureomycin. Egg samples were taken in April and November of the same year. At twenty-two weeks of age two hundred and forty March hatched Rhode Island Red pullets were transferred from range to six houses with forty birds in each. The first egg sample was taken when the birds were twelve months of age and had been housed on wire for a period of seven months. T h e following all-mash diets were fed ad libitum: Pen No. 1 basal* 2 basal* 3 basal* plus 5 ppm. aureomycin 4 basal* plus 10 ppm. aureomycin 5 basal* plus 20 ppm. aureomycin 6 basal* plus 40 ppm. aureomycin Hens in all pens were trap-nested and each egg was identified with the legband num-
ber of the hen. All eggs were held a t 40 degrees F . for two days, then allowed to warm at room temperature for four hours before the quality observations were taken. Albumen quality (in H a u g h units) and shell thickness were measured in the manner prescribed by B r a n t and Shrader (1952). Blood and meat spots over oneeighth inch in diameter were classified as large and those less as small. Spots showing the bright red color of blood were called blood spots, all others were called " m e a t " spots. I n eggs containing blood spots, the presence of " m e a t " spots was not recorded. As shown in Table 1 the addition of aureomcyin to a laying diet did not affect the egg quality factors measured. Although the incidence of large blood spots found in eggs from hens on the aureomycin diets showed some tendency to decrease with increased level of aureomycin in April, this was not observed in November The total incidence of spots was quite high b u t most of the spots were very small and probably of no economic significance. These findings are in essential agreement, with those reported b y Berg, Carver Bearse and McGinnis (1952) using White * Composition of basal in percent, corn, 57.0%; alfalfa leaf meal, 5.0%, soybean oil meal, 30.0%; bonemeal, 4.2%; limestone, 2.3%; riboflavin concentrate, 0.5%; salts (containing 6% MnSC>4 • 4H20), 0.5%; iodized salt, 0.5%; A and D oil, 0.3%.
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EGG QUALITY AND AUREOMYCIN
876
RESEARCH NOTES TABLE 1.—Effect
of aureomycin in the laying diet on egg quality Level of Aureomycin in ppm. C
C Number o f E
^
s
A
P^erage
Nov
g
Average Haugh Units
Eggs with Meat Spots
151
58.0
59.6
85.0
82.7 83.0
14.5
14.8 15.1
9.6 11.5
%
Eggs with Large Blood Spots
%
Eggs with Large Meat Spots
%
Eggs with Large Meat or Blood Spots
%
18.2
67.3 64.0 50.4
55.7
61.4
77.0
83.4
62.6
63.9
79.5
3.0
2.8
0.7
4.9
5.7
10.3
14.3
12.2
14.8
22.7
13.3
17.1 18.1 19.7
12.9
28.4
Leghorns fed terramycin. The higher incidence of meat spots in the breed used in this report is typical. REFERENCES Berg, L. R., J. S. Carver, G. E. Bearse and J. McGinnis, 1952. Antibiotics in the nutrition of laying
15.1 18.8 13.7
20.0 19.7
20.1 24.0
12.8 16.8
14.1
16.9 23.7
1.7 3.1
18.1 16.4
21.9
21.3 13.1
0.9 2.9
5.1
11.8 17.2
82.0 75.8
1.9 3.7
2.1
14.4 11.3
14.5
85.8 75.2
57.7
5.1 6.5
70.5 60.9
83.8 80.2
78.8
6.9 1.8
3.6
76.3 66.4
51.3
81.4 83.6
11.5 14.8
73.8 66.0
68.5
85.6 69.6
75.5
9.5 8.8
6.4
63.9 67.2
14.8 15.0
10.0 14.2
10.3
70.1 58.7
14.7 15.2
15.5
17.5 16.4
83.7 83.4
15.0 15.4
15.6
15.5 10.9
12.2
8.2 69.6
Eggs with Blood or Meat Spots
15.3
83.9 83.4
79.6
15.2 14.9
58.3 58.8
85.2 81.4
81.4
14.7 14.9
15.3
15.6 13.8
%
82.3
58.0 58.4
59.5
81.4 81.8
169 128
57.9 59.8
60.8
81.6 86.2
87.3
83.4
%
59.3
221 119
78
59.0 59.0
40
160 161
146
58.8 58.1
20
177 131
88
58.2 58.8
*
174 137
139
122 58.3
Average Shell .001 inch Thickness Eggs with Blood Spots
135
181
10
19.2
16.8 21.9
hens. Washington Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. No. 534. > A- w - a n d H - L- S h r a d e r > 1952- H o w t 0
Brant
measure egg I. Q. U. S. Dept. of Agr. PA-202. Macht, D. I., and R. Farkas, 1949. Aureomycin and blood coagulations. Science, 110, 305. Parker, J. W., Jr. and L. T. Wright, 1952. The effect of terramycin and aureomycin on blood coagulation. Science, 116, 282.
ILLINOIS NOTES John W. A. Brant, formerly with the Department of Animal Science, University of Illinois, is
now attached to the FAO Technical Mission at Peradeniya, Ceylon.
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Average Egg Grams Weight
.
'