nutrition of the dwarf layer营养的矮层.pdfVIP

NUTRITION OF THE DWARF LAYER (1) J. D. SUMMERS Department of Poultry Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario (Canada) SUMMARY Feeding levels of dietary protein varying from 61 to 23 p. ioo and metabolizable energy levels from to kcal failed to influence varying 27.8 313. per gram significantly egg production or egg size of dwarf layers. An increase in weight of dwarf birds at 6 weeks of age was obtained by feeding thyroprotein, thus suggesting that the dwarf layer may be a hypothyrotic bird. Body temperatures were r/2C0lower for dwarf as compared to normal birds, however, feeding thyroprotein brought the body temperature of the dwarf up to that of the normals. The dwarf bird contained approximately 5 p. roo more carcass fat on a dry weight basis than did normal birds. Feeding thyroprotein resulted in a decrease in carcass fat for the dwarf bird while thiouracil feeding increased carcass fat. The very opposite effect was noted for carcass fat of the normal birds. There was no significant difference in packed cell volume, hemoglobin, red blood cell count, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, total cholesterol, serum protein and serum albumin of dwarf and normal birds. Of the plasma amino acids methionine was significantly lower for the dwarf while all other essentials were similar for the dwarf and normal birds. Although there has been a lot of discussion about the possibility of using dwarf layers in the commercial egg industry, results to-date with regard to egg production and egg size have not been good enough to make the dwarf a serious contender as a replacement for our present day commercial layer.