ACTA VETERINARIA ET ZOOTECHNICA SINICA ›› 2016, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (10): 2045-2051.doi: doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2016.10.013

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Effects of Oviposition and Feeding Behavior on Core and Skin Temperature of Laying Hens

CHANG Yu 1,ZHANG Shao-shuai 1,PENG Qian-qian 1,2,ZHANG Min-hong 1,ZHOU Ying 1,XIA Jiu-long 1,3,DIAO Hua-jie 1,3,FENG Jing-hai 1*   

  1. (1.State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition,Institute of Animal Science,Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences,Beijing 100193,China;2.College of Agriculture,Hebei University of Engineering,Handan 056021,China;3.School of Animal Science and Technology,Northeast Agricultural University,Harbin 150030,China)
  • Received:2015-10-22 Online:2016-10-23 Published:2016-10-23

Abstract:

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of oviposition and feeding behavior on core and skin temperature of laying hens and diurnal variation of core and skin temperature of laying hens.Twelve Jing Hong laying hens aged 34 weeks were assigned to 6 cages,one cage included 2 birds and were kept at environmental control chambers(ambient temperature:20 ℃,relative humidity:60%).All hens were exposed to 16L:8D until the end of experiment and fed twice a day.Miniature temperature data loggers were used to measure the core and skin temperature,and the data was recorded every 3 minutes,which lasted 48 h.The time of oviposition and feeding were recorded by digital infrared video camera.The analysis results by repeated measurement showed as follows:1) Oviposition had effect on the core temperature(P<0.001) and the skin temperature (P=0.082).Thereinto,the core temperature of egg-laying period was 0.21 ℃ higher than that of pre-laying (P<0.01) and 0.37 ℃ higher than that of post-laying (P<0.01).Compared with the pre-laying period,the skin temperature of egg-laying period had a tendency to increase(P=0.058).2) Feeding had significant effect on the core(P=0.01) and skin temperature(P=0.006).Compared with the core and skin temperature of the 1 h before feeding,the core and skin temperature of the 1-2 h after feeding increased 0.12 ℃ (P<0.05) and 0.35 ℃(P<0.05),respectively;2 h after feeding,the core and skin temperature were back to normal.3) During the day(11:00-12:00,15:00-16:00,19:00-20:00),the core and skin temperature had no significant differences(P>0.05),which significantly higher than that during the night(23:00-24:00,03:00-04:00,P<0.01).In conclusion,the oviposition and feeding behavior significantly improved the core and skin temperature.Therefore,evaluating the comfortable level on the basis of body temperature in laying hens,the interference of oviposition and feeding should be avoided.

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