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The calcium and phosphorous retention of layers was evaluated at different production levels (45 - 75 - 95 % of final production peak) with Hy-Line Brown hybrid layers during the first twelve weeks of the laying cycle. 32 layers evenly distributed over 4 treatments (Trts). The Ca content of the diets was identical across all Trts (32,5 g/kg), while P contents and phytase activities differed. In the first Trt the P content of the diet was 2.5 g/kg non-phytate P, without any phytase added. In the second Trt the P content of the diet was reduced by 40 % compared to Trt 1 (1.5 g/kg non-phytate P) without phytase supplementation. In the third and fourth Trts the P content of the diets was the same as in 2 (1.5 g/kg non-phytate P) but the diets were supplemented with phytase (3-phytase produced by trichoderma reesei) at a rate of 250 PPU/kg (Trt 3) and 500 PPU/kg (Trt 4), respectively. According to the results the different P content of the diets affected (P≤0.05) the rate of Ca retention at all trial phases. In the case of reduced P level diets the different phytase inclusion rates did not influence the amount of Ca retained by the birds (P≥0.05). Within the same Trt Ca retention increased (P≤0.05) with increased production intensity. At reduced P content phytase improved (P≤0.05) the P retention of the layers at all trial phases. There was no difference between both phytase application rates. As a result of phytase supplementation P retention reached the P retention of positive control birds (Trt 1) in all trial phases.

The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of an essential oil product on growth performance and cellular immune response of 28-day-old weaned piglets. A total of 348 piglets (50% gilts, 50% barrows) were assigned to three dietary treatments (6 pens/trt). Th e basal diet was a commercial feed that was supplemented without any growth promoter (NC), with antibiotic growth promoter of 40 ppm avilamycin (PC), or with 0.25 g of an essential oil product (EO) per kg of feed. All pigs were immunized by inactivated Aujeszky’s disease virus vaccine at week one and three of the experiment (28- and 44-days-age, respectively). Blood samples were taken four times (on day one, 16, 24, 32 of the experiment) for lymphocyte stimulation (LST) tests with ConA, PWM, PHA used as non-specific and Aujeszky virus used as specific mitogens from 2 pigs/pen. All piglets were individually weighed on day 0, 8, 16, 24 and 32 of the trial. There was no significant difference among average daily gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio of piglets fed different dietary treatments. The non-specific LST test at the 4th blood sampling showed higher values in pigs received feeds with essential oil supplementation (EO) than that of the positive (PC) and negative control (NC) groups (P

The aim of the present trial was to study the effect of two different dietary phosphorus (P) levels on the laying performance in long-term (17 months) egg production and egg shell quality in terms of strength and thickness from the 7th to 17th month of laying. In case of eggshell quality parameters the time effect as well as the interaction between dietary P levels and time were also examined. Sixty Tetra-SL layers were fed diets with two different levels of P (4.9 or 4.4 g/kg total phosphorus) at constant 38.5 g/kg calcium level. In the course of the trial egg production %, egg weight, feed intake and body weight were recorded. At every 4th weeks 20 eggs per treatment were broken to deretmine the strength and thickness of eggshell. Results showed that the examined two levels of dietary P did not affect the percentage of egg production and the feed conversion ratio (kg feed/kg egg mass). The egg weight significantly increased and eggshell strength was significantly lower when hens received the lower dietary P feed. During the laying period, both the eggshell strength and thickness gradually decreased as laying period time went on. In conclusion phosphorus content of the layer diet can be lowered, without reducing the egg production, nevertheless approaching the end of the long laying period, higher P-content feed suggested, whereby eggshell strength can be improved.

As researchers search for tools to automate individual animal tracking, particularly in the livestock industry, they come across papers that make strong claims about the ability of such programs to accurately track individual animals within group-housed laboratory settings and imply that this ability will translate to other situations and species. We selected four of these programs (idTracker, ToxTrac, BioTracker, and Ctrax) and tested their ability to track single, pairs, and groups of pigs in an indoor pen typical of commercial farms and a pen modified to improve lighting, contrast, and camera location. We concluded that at present, these four tracking programs do not perform robustly enough to be adapted for use processing videos from commercial-style pig farms, including smaller research farms. It is hoped that identifying limitations of detection programs can help make systems more robust and user-friendly for future use.