Bradley J W, Atkinson R L, Krueger W F
Poult Sci. 1976 Nov;55(6):2490-2. doi: 10.3382/ps.0552490.
Five floor pens with 14 Leghorn-type breeder hens each, in their 4th month of production, and 2 males per pen were fed a practical-type breeder diet composed largely of soybean meal and milo supplemented with unidentified hatchability factor sources and adequate levels of vitamins and minerals. Five additional pens were fed an identical ration supplemented with biotin at a level of 550 mcg./kg. of diet. Treatment was for a period of 7 months. A 3% improvement in production was obtained by biotin (550 mcg./kg.) supplementation, which was found to be highly significant (P less than or equal to .005) by chi-square analysis. A slight improvement was noted for feed efficiency. Biotin supplementation had no effect on egg size or adult livability. Fertility and hatchability were both significantly improved by biotin supplementation. Fertility and hatchability differences were found to be highly significant by chi-square analyses. Increased hatchability was due to a decreased number of early dead, late dead, and pipped embryos that failed to hatch.
五个鸡舍，每个鸡舍有14只处于产蛋第4个月的来航型种母鸡，每舍2只公鸡，投喂一种实用型种鸡日粮，该日粮主要由豆粕和高粱组成，并添加了不明来源的孵化率因子以及适量的维生素和矿物质。另外五个鸡舍投喂相同日粮，并添加了水平为550微克/千克日粮的生物素。处理期为7个月。添加生物素（550微克/千克）使产蛋量提高了3%，经卡方分析发现这一提高具有高度显著性（P小于或等于0.005）。饲料效率略有提高。添加生物素对蛋重或成年鸡存活率没有影响。添加生物素显著提高了受精率和孵化率。经卡方分析发现，受精率和孵化率差异具有高度显著性。孵化率提高是由于早期死亡、晚期死亡和啄壳但未出壳的胚胎数量减少。
