Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Acharya Adhikari, Pratima

Committee Member

Kiess, Aaron S.

Committee Member

Loar, Robert II

Date of Degree

5-1-2020

Original embargo terms

Worldwide

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Agriculture

Degree Name

Master of Science

College

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Department

Department of Poultry Science

Abstract

Laying hen welfare is gaining importance in the United States and several states have passed legislation for a welfareriendly housing environment, which has forced the egg industry to explore alternative housing environments. For this reason, our first objective was to determine the effect of housing environment and laying hen strain on production performance and egg quality. Results showed that production performance of the hens raised in the alternative housing system was similar to the conventional system. The second objective was to compare the eggshell and cloacal microbiology. Our results indicated that the microbial load observed was higher in the alternative system compared to the conventional system. The third objective was to determine the effects of housing environment and laying hen strain on tibia and femur bone properties. The results demonstrated that the alternative system provided better tibia and femur bone characteristics, but it varied among laying hen strains.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/16817

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