Recently, the Poultry Nutrition and Feed Innovation Team from the Institute of Feed Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences revealed the intrinsic mechanism of regulating the albumen quality of eggs, which laid the foundation for further improving the albumen quality at the late stage of egg production in laying hens. The research results were published in Poultry Science.

At the late stage of laying eggs, the decreased quality of albumen of eggs would affect eggs’ shelf life and processing characteristics, which in turn impedes the development in the green, low-carbon, and high-efficiency breeding in the laying hens industry. Improving the albumen quality at the late stage of laying eggs has become an urgent need for the industry.

A comparative analysis of albumen quality, physiological conditions, and magnum tissue function between 40- and 100-week-old laying hens revealed that reduced antioxidant performance and physiological damage to the magnum were the major causes of the decline in albumen quality of eggs at the late stage of laying eggs. Also, the study revealed that Fanconi anemia (FA) and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) signaling pathways reduced the ability of magnum epithelial cells to DNA repair, proliferate, and secrete proteins through down-regulating the breast cancer susceptibility protein 2 (BRCA2) and fibrillin 1 (FBN1). The results of this study provide a new theoretical basis and scientific strategy for improving the albumen quality of eggs at the late stage of laying eggs.

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32072774 and 32272907), the Modern Agro-industry Technology Research System, and the Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Project (ASTIP) of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

Original link: https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.psj.2024.103618

By Xinyu Chang

1004697396@qq.com