Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Mississippi State University, Starkville, Mississippi State, United States of America.
Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa State, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2022 Apr 22;17(4):e0267568. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0267568. eCollection 2022.
Reducing floor eggs in cage-free (CF) housing systems is among primary concerns for egg producers. The objective of this research was to evaluate the effects of ground robot manipulation on reduction of floor eggs. In addition, the effects of ground robot manipulation on production performance, stress response, bone quality, and behavior were also investigated. Two successive flocks of 180 Hy-Line Brown hens at 34 weeks of this age were used. The treatment structure for each flock consisted of six pens with three treatments (without robot running, with one-week robot running, and with two-weeks robot running), resulting in two replicates per treatment per flock and four replicates per treatment with two flocks. Two phases were involved with each flock. Phase 1 (weeks 35-38) mimicked the normal scenario, and phase 2 (weeks 40-43) mimicked a scenario after inadvertent restriction to nest box access. Results indicate that the floor egg reduction rate in the first two weeks of phase 1 was 11.0% without the robot treatment, 18.9% with the one-week robot treatment, and 34.0% with the two-week robot treatment. The effect of robot operation on floor egg production was not significant when the two phases of data were included in the analysis. Other tested parameters were similar among the treatments, including hen-day egg production, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, live body weight, plasma corticosterone concentration, bone breaking force, ash percentage, and time spent in nest boxes. In conclusion, ground robot operation in CF settings may help to reduce floor egg production to a certain degree for a short period right after being introduced. Additionally, robot operation does not seem to negatively affect hen production performance and well-being.
减少无笼（CF）饲养系统中的垫料蛋是蛋鸡生产者关注的首要问题之一。本研究旨在评估地面机器人操作对减少垫料蛋的影响。此外，还研究了地面机器人操作对生产性能、应激反应、骨质量和行为的影响。使用了两批连续的 34 周龄海兰褐蛋鸡，每批 180 只。每批的处理结构由 6 个围栏组成，每个围栏有 3 种处理（无机器人运行、机器人运行 1 周和机器人运行 2 周），每批处理有 2 个重复，每批处理有 2 个重复，2 个批次。每批涉及两个阶段。第 1 阶段（第 35-38 周）模拟正常情况，第 2 阶段（第 40-43 周）模拟无意间限制进入巢箱后的情况。结果表明，第 1 阶段前两周无机器人处理的垫料蛋减少率为 11.0%，机器人运行 1 周的减少率为 18.9%，机器人运行 2 周的减少率为 34.0%。当将两个阶段的数据纳入分析时，机器人运行对垫料蛋产量的影响并不显著。其他测试参数在处理组之间相似，包括母鸡日蛋产量、采食量、饲料转化率、活体体重、血浆皮质酮浓度、骨断裂力、灰分百分比和在巢箱中的时间。总之，在 CF 环境中使用地面机器人操作可能有助于在引入后的短时间内将垫料蛋的产量降低到一定程度。此外，机器人操作似乎不会对母鸡的生产性能和健康状况产生负面影响。
