Department of Farm Animal Ethology and Poultry Science, University of Hohenheim, 470c, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany.
Poult Sci. 2012 Aug;91(8):1785-9. doi: 10.3382/ps.2011-02033.
Earlier studies in laying hens have demonstrated a negative correlation between feather pecking and the dietary fiber content of the feed. However, the factors underlying this relationship are not fully understood. In the present experiment, we hypothesized that birds prone to feather pecking would prefer a diet supplemented with dietary fiber. Thus, the aim was to investigate the voluntary consumption of a wheat-soy control diet (CON) and a diet supplemented with 8% spelt hulls (FIB) on the expense of wheat in 20 individually caged hens selected for high feather pecking (HFP) behavior and 20 individually caged hens selected for low feather pecking (LFP) behavior. The proportional intake of FIB was 0.39 and significantly different from 0.50 (P<0.001). As hypothesized, HFP had higher proportional intake of FIB (0.43) than LFP hens (0.36; P<0.05). The HFP hens had inferior plumage condition (P<0.001), higher BW (P<0.001), and higher feed intake (P<0.01) than LFP. The HFP hens plucked more feathers from a simple inanimate feather-pecking model, but the number of feathers being pulled out did not correlate with the proportional intake of FIB. It was concluded that the preference for feed supplemented with spelt hulls was different between hens displaying different feather-pecking behavior. The underlying reason for such a difference needs further investigation.
先前在产蛋母鸡中的研究表明，啄羽行为与饲料中的膳食纤维含量呈负相关。然而，这种关系的背后的因素尚未完全理解。在本实验中，我们假设啄羽倾向的鸟类会更喜欢添加膳食纤维的饮食。因此，目的是研究 20 只单独笼养的高啄羽（HFP）母鸡和 20 只单独笼养的低啄羽（LFP）母鸡对小麦-大豆对照饮食（CON）和补充 8%斯佩尔特外壳（FIB）的饮食的自愿消耗，前提是消耗小麦。FIB 的比例摄入量为 0.39，与 0.50 有显著差异（P<0.001）。正如假设的那样，HFP 的 FIB 比例摄入量（0.43）高于 LFP 母鸡（0.36；P<0.05）。HFP 母鸡的羽毛状况较差（P<0.001），体重较高（P<0.001），采食量较高（P<0.01）。与 LFP 相比，HFP 母鸡从简单的无生命羽毛啄食模型中拔出了更多的羽毛，但拔出的羽毛数量与 FIB 的比例摄入量没有相关性。结论是，表现出不同啄羽行为的母鸡对添加斯佩尔特外壳的饲料的偏好不同。这种差异的潜在原因需要进一步研究。
