Effects of Environmental Temperature on Egg Production, Food Intake and Water Consumption in Laying White Leghorns : II. In the Case of Corn Oil Supplemented Feeding

This research was performed in view of investigating the effects of environmental temperature on egg production, food intake and water consumption in the case of corn oil supplemented feeding in laying White Leghorns. Twenty-fore laying hens were divided into three groups (A), (B) and (C) of eight hens each. (A) was fed with the commercial chicken food, (B) with the commercial food supplemented with 7% of corn oil, and (C) was fed with the commercial food supplemented with 14% of corn oil. The hens were kept in a room temperature of 25°C, 30°C, 32.5°C and 35°C during 10-15 days. The results obtained were as follows.
1) The higher the environmental temperature becomes, the lesser food intake was observed. Supplementation with corn oil accelerated the decrease of food intake.
2) Effects of corn oil supplementation on egg production were not noticeable in the egg weight, but were affective on the egg production rate and the egg production per day above 32.5°C, especially at 35°C. This may be due to the deficiency of nutrients for egg production.
3) The highest efficiency for the egg production was observed at 32.5°C in the case of corn oil supplementation and at 35°C in the case of the commercial food. Compared with the previous paper the difference of the latter result may be attributed mainly to the non-appearance of abnormal eggs. Calcium supplementation proved to be efficient for prevention for broken eggs or no-shelled eggs in higher environmental temperatures.
4) Effects of dry and wet bulb temperature on food intake and water consumption, were discussed.