| China is a large country in the livestock and poultry industry,and the per capita consumption of eggs is higher than the world average,while the development of animal welfare research in China is lagging behind.This experiment focuses on the production performance and welfare level of egg breeders in enriched colony cages and artificial insemination feeding mode,to establish welfare evaluation criteria for egg breeders in enriched colony cages,to provide a theoretical basis for improving the welfare level of egg breeders in colony cages,and to improve production efficiency.In order to investigate the effect of crossbreeding and artificial insemination on the production performance of Hy-line brown breeders,the results of this experiment were used to compare the hatching performance,egg production,egg quality and economic efficiency of Hy-line brown breeders in both rearing modes.The results showed that the fertility,the rate of fertilised eggs coming out of the hen and the rate of dead embryos in fertilised eggs in the artificial insemination group were significantly higher than those in the enriched colony cage group(P<0.05),and the egg qualification rate,albumen height,egg weight and Haugh units in the enriched colony cage group were significantly higher than those in the artificial insemination group(P<0.05),indicating that the fertility of the enriched colony cage group was lower,but the egg production performance and egg quality were higher,and thus the rearing profit was higher than that of the artificial insemination group 7.09 yuan per layer.A comparative analysis of the welfare levels of Hy-line brown breeders in both the colony and artificial insemination rearing modes.Newcastle disease and avian influenza antibody levels were tested every 4 weeks(25-55 weeks of age),and behavioural observations and feather coverage scores were performed every 6 weeks(35-59 weeks of age)for both the colony and artificial insemination rearing modes.Blood,tibia and humerus were collected from 58-week-old breeder hens for blood biochemistry and bone strength tests.The frequency of feather pecking,walking,standing and grooming behaviour was found to be significantly higher(P<0.05)in the enriched colony group than in the artificial insemination group.Feather coverage scores increased with age,and the difference in feather coverage between feeding modes was highly significant(P<0.01).The results of blood biochemical indicators showed that stress indicators(ALP,CORT)and antioxidant indicators(MDA,GSH-Px)were significantly higher in the enriched colony cage rearing mode than in the artificial insemination group(P<0.05).The bone fracture strength of the tibia and humerus was significantly higher in the enriched colony group than in the artificial insemination group(P<0.05).The chickens in the enriched colony cage feeding mode had higher bone fracture strength and better bone quality.According to the production performance and welfare level evaluation indexes to establish the welfare evaluation criteria for the egg breeder,in achieving the fertility ≥89.00%,fertilized eggs out of the female chicks ≥ 44.00%,the frequency of feather pecking behaviour ≤ 2.40,the whole body feather coverage score ≤ 14.00,tibial bone breaking strength ≥ 310.00 N,humeral bone breaking strength ≥ 149.00 N,can be used as a reference for welfare evaluation criteria.In summary,the enriched colony cage rearing model provides better egg production performance,higher rearing profit and a higher level of welfare than the artificial insemination rearing model. |
