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Relationship of Biotin to Reproductive Performance of Leghorn-Type Hens
RELATIONSHIP OF BIOTIN TO REPRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE OF LEGHORN-TYPE HENS J. W. BRADLEY, R. L. ATKINSON AND W. F. KRUEGER
(Received for publication June 25, 1976)
ABSTRACT Five floor pens with 14 Leghorn-type breeder hens each, in their 4th month of production, and 2 males per pen were fed a practical-type breeder diet composed largely of soybean meal and milo supplemented with unidentified hatchability factor sources and adequate levels of vitamins and minerals. Five additional pens were fed an identical ration supplemented with biotin at a level of 550 meg./kg. of diet. Treatment was for a period of 7 months. A 3% improvement in production was obtained by biotin (550 meg./kg.) supplementation, which was found to be highly significant (P S .005) by chi-square analysis. A slight improvement was noted for feed efficiency. Biotin supplementation had no effect on egg size or adult livability. Fertility and hatchability were both significantly improved by biotin supplementation. Fertility and hatchability differences were found to be highly significant by chi-square analyses. Increased hatchability was due to a decreased number of early dead, late dead, and pipped embryos that failed to hatch. POULTRY SCIENCE 55: 2490-2492, 1976
INTRODUCTION
MATERIALS AND METHODS
HE relationship of biotin to embryonic development and hatchability have been well documented by Cravens et al. (1942, 1944), Couch et al. (1948a, b, c) and Sunde et al. (1950). These workers also described congenital deformities which were shown to be the result of a biotin deficiency in the diet. Brewer and Edwards (1972) studied the relationship of biotin to the hatchability of eggs from broiler breeder hens. These workers reported a requirement of 100 meg./kg. of ration even though their data showed that levels up to 320 meg./kg. did not increase hatchability appreciably compared with a practical corn-soy control diet. Work by Atkinson et al. (1976a, b) has shown a significant improvement in hatchability of turkey eggs by the addition of biotin to a soy-milo breeder diet at a level of 550 meg./kg. The present study was undertaken to determine the relationship of biotin supplementation to reproductive performance of Leghorn-type hens fed a practical-type soymilo ration.
Leghorn-type commercial layers (140), in their fourth month of production, were divided into 14 bird groups and placed at random into 10 breeder pens. These pens were 3.05 x 3.66 m. in size and were equipped with a feeder, Johnson cup waterer, 5 single nests and a roost area covering approximately 1 / 3 of the floor area. At the time of lighting, two Leghorn males were placed in each pen where they remained throughout the 7 twenty-eight day production periods. Five groups were fed the basal breeder diet as follows in percent: soybean meal, 12.250; dried whey product, 0.500; vitamin mix, 0.700; poultry by-product meal, 5.000; distillers dried solubles, 2.000; salt, 0.250; manganese sulfate, 0.025; zinc oxide, 0.025; dehydrated alfalfa meal, 3.000; defluorinated phosphate, 2.000; oyster shell flour, 6.000; fermasol, 0.250; methionine, 0.050; and ground grain sorghum, 67.950. The vitamin mix provided the following per kg. of ration: vitamin A, 4,994 U.S.P. units, vitamin D 3 , 1,498 I.C. units; vitamin E, 5.5 I. units; riboflavin, 4.4 mgs.; calcium pantothenate, 11.0 mgs.; niacin, 27.5 mgs.; vitamin B 1 2 , 13.2 megs.; menadione sodium bisulfite, 2.2
T
2490
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Ernst Mayr Library of the Museum Comp Zoology, Harvard University on April 20, 2015
Department of Poultry Science, Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, Texas A&M University System, College Station, Texas 77843
2491
RESEARCH N O T E S
TABLE 1.—Relationship of biotin to reproductive performance of Leghorn -type hens
Fertility
Hatch fertile eggs
D2
D3
(%)
(%)
(%)
(%)
(%)
(%)
61.7y 2
86.5b 1
84.6y
3.1y
1.3
5.6y
5.4y
64.7x
89.1a
92.8x
1.5x
1.0
2.1x
2.6x
Pips
1. Means with different letters differ significantly (P S .01) by chi-square analysis. 2. Means with different letters differ significantly (P £ .005) by chi-square analysis.
mgs.; choline chloride, 499.4 mgs.; and 3nitrophenylarsonic acid, 49.5 mgs. Five groups were fed an identical ration supplemented with biotin at a level of 550 megs. per kg. of ration. Feed and water were supplied ad libitum. Eggs were weighed the first two days of each period in order to determine the effect, if any, of treatment on egg size. All eggs laid the last 7 days of each period were incubated in order to determine the effect of biotin supplementation on fertility and hatchability. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The effects of biotin supplementation (550 megs./kg.) are shown in Table 1. A significant improvement in production was noted when the basal ration was supplemented with biotin. This was a slightly lower rate of production than might be expected due to the fact the birds were in their fourth period of production when the experiment was started. There was a slight improvement in feed efficiency for the biotin supplemented groups because of increased rate of egg production. Statistically significant improvements were also noted for fertility and hatchability when the basal ration was supplemented with biotin at a level of 550 meg./kg. of diet (Table 1). Fertility was somewhat lower than would normally be expected because of the age of the males and females used in this study. A highly significant difference was noted for hatch of fertile eggs amounting to approximately 8.2%. The improvement in hatchability was relat-
ed to a decrease in embryonic mortality at all stages of development except during the second week of incubation. D , , D 3 and pip embryonic mortality differences were found to be highly significant statistically. Eggs from hens fed rations supplemented with biotin were found to hatch earlier and the chicks were more vigorous at hatching. This is in accord with results reported by Atkinson et al. (1976a, b) for turkeys. In turkeys, embryonic mortality was improved significantly statistically only during the last week of incubation (Atkinson et al., 1976a, b). An increase in the vigor of the birds at hatching also was noted.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS T h e authors wish t o express appreciation to the S o u t h w e s t e r n Poultry and Egg Association for their support of this r e s e a r c h .
REFERENCES Atkinson, R. L., J. W. Bradley, J. R. Couch, T. M. Ferguson and W. F. Krueger, 1976a. Relationship of supplemental biotin, phosphorus level and calcium level to reproductive performance of turkeys. Nutrition Reports Int. 13: 237-246. Atkinson, R. L., K. K. Krueger, J. W. Bradley, J. R. Couch and W. F. Krueger, 1976b. Relationship of supplemental biotin, protein level, and grain source to reproductive performance of turkeys. Nutrition Reports Int. 13: 225-235. Brewer, L. W., and H. M. Edwards, Jr., 1972. Studies on the biotin requirement of broiler breeders. Poultry Sci. 51: 619-624. Couch, J. R., W. W. Cravens, C. A. Elvehjem and J. G. Halpin, 1948A. Daily uptake of biotin by the
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Ernst Mayr Library of the Museum Comp Zoology, Harvard University on April 20, 2015
Treatment None Biotin (550 megs./kg.)
Production
2492
RESEARCH NOTES
development in the domestic fowl. Anat. Record, 90: 55-64. Cravens, W. W., E. E. Sebasta, J. G. Halpin and E. B. Hart, 1942. Effect of biotin on reproduction in the domestic fowl. Proc. Soc. Exptl. Biol. Med. 50: 101-104. Sunde, M. L., W. W. Cravens, C. A. Elvehjem and J. G. Halpin, 1950. The effect of diet and cicectomy on the intestinal synthesis of biotin in the mature fowl. Poultry Sci. 29: 10-14.
AMINO ACID C O N T E N T O F SOYBEAN M E A L VARYING IN PROTEIN C O N T E N T ' TALMADGE S. N E L S O N , EDWARD L . STEPHENSON, ZELPHA B . JOHNSON AND LINDA K.
KIRBY
Department of Animal Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701 (Received for publication June 28, 1976)
ABSTRACT Eleven samples of soybean meal varying from 48 to 65% protein on a dry matter basis and two samples of whole soybeans were analyzed for 17 amino acids using a Technicon Auto-Analyzer. When the amino acids were expressed as percent of protein, differences (P < .05) existed among samples for 11 of the amino acids but not for the other six. There were no correlations (P > .05) between any of the amino acids and protein. POULTRY SCIENCE 55: 2492-2494, 1976
INTRODUCTION
U
N T I L recently soybean meal available to the feed industry w a s guaranteed to contain either 44 or 5 0 % protein and m a n y times exceeded each of these levels. In recent years, the protein content of the meal has decreased and most p r o d u c e r s do not guarantee above 49%. Analyses of samples of soybean meal b y users h a v e indicated protein levels ranging from 44 to 4 9 % . This has raised the question as to whether or not the amino acid content of s o y b e a n meal varies in relation to its protein content. T h e objectives of the report herein was to determine to what extent the amino acid content of s o y b e a n meal varied as its protein content varied. PROCEDURES Eleven samples of s o y b e a n meal and two samples of whole s o y b e a n s were assayed in
1. Published with the approval of the Director of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station.
triplicate for protein and moisture ( A . O . A . C , 1965) and for amino acids by the method of Piez and Morris (1960). T h e amino acid content of the samples w a s converted to percent of protein and analyzed by analysis of variance. W h e n significant differences (P < .05) were obtained by the F test, differences b e t w e e n m e a n s were separated by D u n c a n ' s new multiple range test and simple correlation coefficients were obtained (Barr and Goodnight, 1972). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Protein, dry matter and amino acid c o n t e n t s of the samples of soybean meal and whole s o y b e a n s as percent of protein are presented in Table 1. T h e protein content of the samples on a dry matter basis ranged form 39.2 to 65.2%, the latter being an experimental product. N o significant differences occurred at the 5 % level of probability between any of the samples for thr., ser., c y s . - c y s . , m e t . , leu., and lys. T h e contents of each of the 11 remaining amino acids were different (P <
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Ernst Mayr Library of the Museum Comp Zoology, Harvard University on April 20, 2015
hens egg. Poultry Sci. 27: 823-825. Couch, J. R., W. W. Cravens, C. A. Elvehjem and J. G. Halpin, 1948b. Relation of biotin to congenital deformities in the chick. Anat. Rec. 100: 29-48. Couch, J. R., W. W. Cravens, C. A. Elvehjem and J. G. Halpin, 1948c. Relation of carbohydrate to intestinal synthesis of biotin and hatchability in mature fowl. J. Nutr. 35: 57-72. Cravens, W. W., W. H. McGibbon and E. E. Sebasta, 1944. Effect of biotin deficiency on embryonic
(Received for publication June 25, 1976)
ABSTRACT Five floor pens with 14 Leghorn-type breeder hens each, in their 4th month of production, and 2 males per pen were fed a practical-type breeder diet composed largely of soybean meal and milo supplemented with unidentified hatchability factor sources and adequate levels of vitamins and minerals. Five additional pens were fed an identical ration supplemented with biotin at a level of 550 meg./kg. of diet. Treatment was for a period of 7 months. A 3% improvement in production was obtained by biotin (550 meg./kg.) supplementation, which was found to be highly significant (P S .005) by chi-square analysis. A slight improvement was noted for feed efficiency. Biotin supplementation had no effect on egg size or adult livability. Fertility and hatchability were both significantly improved by biotin supplementation. Fertility and hatchability differences were found to be highly significant by chi-square analyses. Increased hatchability was due to a decreased number of early dead, late dead, and pipped embryos that failed to hatch. POULTRY SCIENCE 55: 2490-2492, 1976
INTRODUCTION
MATERIALS AND METHODS
HE relationship of biotin to embryonic development and hatchability have been well documented by Cravens et al. (1942, 1944), Couch et al. (1948a, b, c) and Sunde et al. (1950). These workers also described congenital deformities which were shown to be the result of a biotin deficiency in the diet. Brewer and Edwards (1972) studied the relationship of biotin to the hatchability of eggs from broiler breeder hens. These workers reported a requirement of 100 meg./kg. of ration even though their data showed that levels up to 320 meg./kg. did not increase hatchability appreciably compared with a practical corn-soy control diet. Work by Atkinson et al. (1976a, b) has shown a significant improvement in hatchability of turkey eggs by the addition of biotin to a soy-milo breeder diet at a level of 550 meg./kg. The present study was undertaken to determine the relationship of biotin supplementation to reproductive performance of Leghorn-type hens fed a practical-type soymilo ration.
Leghorn-type commercial layers (140), in their fourth month of production, were divided into 14 bird groups and placed at random into 10 breeder pens. These pens were 3.05 x 3.66 m. in size and were equipped with a feeder, Johnson cup waterer, 5 single nests and a roost area covering approximately 1 / 3 of the floor area. At the time of lighting, two Leghorn males were placed in each pen where they remained throughout the 7 twenty-eight day production periods. Five groups were fed the basal breeder diet as follows in percent: soybean meal, 12.250; dried whey product, 0.500; vitamin mix, 0.700; poultry by-product meal, 5.000; distillers dried solubles, 2.000; salt, 0.250; manganese sulfate, 0.025; zinc oxide, 0.025; dehydrated alfalfa meal, 3.000; defluorinated phosphate, 2.000; oyster shell flour, 6.000; fermasol, 0.250; methionine, 0.050; and ground grain sorghum, 67.950. The vitamin mix provided the following per kg. of ration: vitamin A, 4,994 U.S.P. units, vitamin D 3 , 1,498 I.C. units; vitamin E, 5.5 I. units; riboflavin, 4.4 mgs.; calcium pantothenate, 11.0 mgs.; niacin, 27.5 mgs.; vitamin B 1 2 , 13.2 megs.; menadione sodium bisulfite, 2.2
T
2490
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Ernst Mayr Library of the Museum Comp Zoology, Harvard University on April 20, 2015
Department of Poultry Science, Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, Texas A&M University System, College Station, Texas 77843
2491
RESEARCH N O T E S
TABLE 1.—Relationship of biotin to reproductive performance of Leghorn -type hens
Fertility
Hatch fertile eggs
D2
D3
(%)
(%)
(%)
(%)
(%)
(%)
61.7y 2
86.5b 1
84.6y
3.1y
1.3
5.6y
5.4y
64.7x
89.1a
92.8x
1.5x
1.0
2.1x
2.6x
Pips
1. Means with different letters differ significantly (P S .01) by chi-square analysis. 2. Means with different letters differ significantly (P £ .005) by chi-square analysis.
mgs.; choline chloride, 499.4 mgs.; and 3nitrophenylarsonic acid, 49.5 mgs. Five groups were fed an identical ration supplemented with biotin at a level of 550 megs. per kg. of ration. Feed and water were supplied ad libitum. Eggs were weighed the first two days of each period in order to determine the effect, if any, of treatment on egg size. All eggs laid the last 7 days of each period were incubated in order to determine the effect of biotin supplementation on fertility and hatchability. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The effects of biotin supplementation (550 megs./kg.) are shown in Table 1. A significant improvement in production was noted when the basal ration was supplemented with biotin. This was a slightly lower rate of production than might be expected due to the fact the birds were in their fourth period of production when the experiment was started. There was a slight improvement in feed efficiency for the biotin supplemented groups because of increased rate of egg production. Statistically significant improvements were also noted for fertility and hatchability when the basal ration was supplemented with biotin at a level of 550 meg./kg. of diet (Table 1). Fertility was somewhat lower than would normally be expected because of the age of the males and females used in this study. A highly significant difference was noted for hatch of fertile eggs amounting to approximately 8.2%. The improvement in hatchability was relat-
ed to a decrease in embryonic mortality at all stages of development except during the second week of incubation. D , , D 3 and pip embryonic mortality differences were found to be highly significant statistically. Eggs from hens fed rations supplemented with biotin were found to hatch earlier and the chicks were more vigorous at hatching. This is in accord with results reported by Atkinson et al. (1976a, b) for turkeys. In turkeys, embryonic mortality was improved significantly statistically only during the last week of incubation (Atkinson et al., 1976a, b). An increase in the vigor of the birds at hatching also was noted.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS T h e authors wish t o express appreciation to the S o u t h w e s t e r n Poultry and Egg Association for their support of this r e s e a r c h .
REFERENCES Atkinson, R. L., J. W. Bradley, J. R. Couch, T. M. Ferguson and W. F. Krueger, 1976a. Relationship of supplemental biotin, phosphorus level and calcium level to reproductive performance of turkeys. Nutrition Reports Int. 13: 237-246. Atkinson, R. L., K. K. Krueger, J. W. Bradley, J. R. Couch and W. F. Krueger, 1976b. Relationship of supplemental biotin, protein level, and grain source to reproductive performance of turkeys. Nutrition Reports Int. 13: 225-235. Brewer, L. W., and H. M. Edwards, Jr., 1972. Studies on the biotin requirement of broiler breeders. Poultry Sci. 51: 619-624. Couch, J. R., W. W. Cravens, C. A. Elvehjem and J. G. Halpin, 1948A. Daily uptake of biotin by the
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Ernst Mayr Library of the Museum Comp Zoology, Harvard University on April 20, 2015
Treatment None Biotin (550 megs./kg.)
Production
2492
RESEARCH NOTES
development in the domestic fowl. Anat. Record, 90: 55-64. Cravens, W. W., E. E. Sebasta, J. G. Halpin and E. B. Hart, 1942. Effect of biotin on reproduction in the domestic fowl. Proc. Soc. Exptl. Biol. Med. 50: 101-104. Sunde, M. L., W. W. Cravens, C. A. Elvehjem and J. G. Halpin, 1950. The effect of diet and cicectomy on the intestinal synthesis of biotin in the mature fowl. Poultry Sci. 29: 10-14.
AMINO ACID C O N T E N T O F SOYBEAN M E A L VARYING IN PROTEIN C O N T E N T ' TALMADGE S. N E L S O N , EDWARD L . STEPHENSON, ZELPHA B . JOHNSON AND LINDA K.
KIRBY
Department of Animal Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701 (Received for publication June 28, 1976)
ABSTRACT Eleven samples of soybean meal varying from 48 to 65% protein on a dry matter basis and two samples of whole soybeans were analyzed for 17 amino acids using a Technicon Auto-Analyzer. When the amino acids were expressed as percent of protein, differences (P < .05) existed among samples for 11 of the amino acids but not for the other six. There were no correlations (P > .05) between any of the amino acids and protein. POULTRY SCIENCE 55: 2492-2494, 1976
INTRODUCTION
U
N T I L recently soybean meal available to the feed industry w a s guaranteed to contain either 44 or 5 0 % protein and m a n y times exceeded each of these levels. In recent years, the protein content of the meal has decreased and most p r o d u c e r s do not guarantee above 49%. Analyses of samples of soybean meal b y users h a v e indicated protein levels ranging from 44 to 4 9 % . This has raised the question as to whether or not the amino acid content of s o y b e a n meal varies in relation to its protein content. T h e objectives of the report herein was to determine to what extent the amino acid content of s o y b e a n meal varied as its protein content varied. PROCEDURES Eleven samples of s o y b e a n meal and two samples of whole s o y b e a n s were assayed in
1. Published with the approval of the Director of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station.
triplicate for protein and moisture ( A . O . A . C , 1965) and for amino acids by the method of Piez and Morris (1960). T h e amino acid content of the samples w a s converted to percent of protein and analyzed by analysis of variance. W h e n significant differences (P < .05) were obtained by the F test, differences b e t w e e n m e a n s were separated by D u n c a n ' s new multiple range test and simple correlation coefficients were obtained (Barr and Goodnight, 1972). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Protein, dry matter and amino acid c o n t e n t s of the samples of soybean meal and whole s o y b e a n s as percent of protein are presented in Table 1. T h e protein content of the samples on a dry matter basis ranged form 39.2 to 65.2%, the latter being an experimental product. N o significant differences occurred at the 5 % level of probability between any of the samples for thr., ser., c y s . - c y s . , m e t . , leu., and lys. T h e contents of each of the 11 remaining amino acids were different (P <
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Ernst Mayr Library of the Museum Comp Zoology, Harvard University on April 20, 2015
hens egg. Poultry Sci. 27: 823-825. Couch, J. R., W. W. Cravens, C. A. Elvehjem and J. G. Halpin, 1948b. Relation of biotin to congenital deformities in the chick. Anat. Rec. 100: 29-48. Couch, J. R., W. W. Cravens, C. A. Elvehjem and J. G. Halpin, 1948c. Relation of carbohydrate to intestinal synthesis of biotin and hatchability in mature fowl. J. Nutr. 35: 57-72. Cravens, W. W., W. H. McGibbon and E. E. Sebasta, 1944. Effect of biotin deficiency on embryonic