Journal article
Assessment of the potential relationship between egg quality and infectious bronchitis virus infection in Australian layer flocks
KA Hewson, T Robertson, PA Steer, JM Devlin, AH Noormohammadi, J Ignjatovic
Australian Veterinary Journal | WILEY | Published : 2014
DOI: 10.1111/avj.12156
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: This investigation aimed to determine if there was a relationship between the production of eggs with poor internal quality, as measured by poor Haugh units, by Australian layer flocks and the detection of infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) in the hens. Other risk factors including flock size, flock type, flock age, chicken breed and vaccination frequency were also assessed. METHODS: The study group comprised 17 flocks from 14 farms. Data relating to the factors investigated were requested on a regular basis. The Haugh unit data were used to grade eggs as good or poor based on the age and flock at the time of data collection. Cloacal swabs were collected from 20 chickens in each fl..
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Funding Acknowledgements
The Australian Egg Corporation Limited is gratefully acknowledged for their, in part, support of this study. The primary author was supported by scholarships from The University of Melbourne and the Australian Poultry Cooperative Research Centre. The authors thank Denise O'Rourke for technical assistance and Garry Anderson for assistance with the statistical analyses.