الفهرس 
INTRODUCTION
Sex ratioOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
The current study was carried out at Mallawi Poultry Research Station, Animal Production Research Institute, El-Minia Governorate, Egypt. The study was conducted during 2016. The aim of our study was to apply a simple and applicable method in order to bias the primary sex ratio of Fayoumi chickens offspring. Our study comprised two experiments as follows;Experiment I:A total number of 135 ♀ and 15 ♂ Fayoumi chickens were divided into 4 treatment groups. In groups 1, 3 and 4 content 30 female and 3 male (10 females + 1 male/ replicate) and groups 2 content 45 female and 6 male (15 female + 2 male/ replicate) as shown in the following:
T1: Birds fed on a plain commercial diet and served as control.
T2: Birds fed on a plain commercial diet (crowding).
T3: Birds fed on the commercial diet supplemented with 5 mg prednisolone/kg diet.T4: Birds fed on the commercial diet supplemented with 20 mg prednisolone/kg diet.The obtained results could be summarized as follow:Production performance :
1. Prednisolone addition (5 and 20 mg prednisolone/kg feed) decreased the BW of male and female fayoumi chickens. Increasing the stocking density had no significant effects on BW of males and females.
2. High stocking density had no significant effect on egg weight, while, prednisolone supplementation resulted in a significant reduction in egg weight compared to the control group.3.Both prednisolone and high stocking density treatments led to a significantly decreased egg production and egg mass compared to the control group. Hens in high stocking density treatment group had the lowest hen day egg production.
4. Increasing the number of birds per square meter and 5 mg prednisolone treatments didn’t affect the feeding consumption. However addition of 20 mg prednisolone/ kg diet decreased the amount of feed consumed by the birds as compared to control.5. Birds in high stocking density group had significantly lower feed conversion ratio compared to the control group, while the FCR of prednisolone supplemented birds was intermediate.Hatching traits and sex ratio:
1. Neither stocking density nor 5 mg prednisolone supplementation had a significant effect on fertility rate. However, addition of 20 mg prednisolone/kg diet resulted in a decreased fertility rate compared to the control group.2.Hens in HSD group had significantly higher commercial hatchability ratio compared to the other treatments However, hens in HSD and PІІ groups had significantly higher true hatchability (TH%) compared to the C and PІ groups.3. Neither stocking density nor 5 mg prednisolone supplementation had a significant effect on hatchling body weights (males). However, addition of 20 mg prednisolone/kg diet resulted in a decreased hatchling body weights (males) when compared to the control group. Significant differences were observed in newly hatched females between the HSD and PІ groups, where, hens in HSD group had the highest value and PII had the lowest value.
4. Hens in high stocking density and prednisolone treatment groups produced more female and less male chicks compared to the control group.
Some blood constituents :In Females:1.The serum cortisol, ALT, AST, urea, creatinine and albumin concentrations of hens maintained at high stocking density were significantly higher than those in the control group. Also, the serum concentrations of cortisol, ALT, AST and urea in the high stocking treatment were higher than those in the prednisolone treatment groups.2.Laying hens fed on diets supplemented with 5 mg prednisolone/kg diet had higher serum urea, creatinine, total protein, albumin and globulin and phosphorus concentrations than those in the control group.3.The serum cortisol, ALT and AST concentrations of prednisolone treated laying hens were lower than that of birds in the control group.4. The serum total protein, globulin, calcium and phosphorus concentrations of laying hens in 20 mg prednisolone treatment were higher than those of birds in the high stocking and control groups.In Males:1. No significant differences in serum testosterone, cortisol, urea and creatinine concentrations were observed among roosters in the high stocking and prednisolone treatment groups.2.Roosters in high stocking treatment group had significantly higher serum concentrations of ALT and AST than those in the other treatment groups. However, no significant differences were observed in the activity of these enzymes among roosters in the prednisolone and control treatment groups.
Experiment II:A total number of 90 ♀ and 9 ♂ Fayoumi chickens were divided into 3 treatment groups as shown in the following:T1: Birds fed on a plain commercial diet and served a control group.T2: Birds were provided with a commercial diet supplemented with 1.5% of fenugreek seeds powder (15 g fenugreek/ kg diet).T3: Birds were offered a commercial diet mixed with 1.5% of Liquorice roots powder (15 g liquoirice/ kg diet).The obtained results could be summarized as follow:Production performance :1.Neither fenugreek seeds nor liquorice roots powder supplementation had any significant effect on body weight, egg weight, feed consumption and feed conversion ratio.2.Fenugreek seed powder supplementation reduced the number of laid eggs and decreased the total egg mass when compared to the control and the liquorice groups.Hatching traits:
1. Hens supplemented with fenugreek, liquorice and control groups had no significant on percentage of fertility and hatchability2.Hatchling body weights of laying hens fed on diets supplemented with Fenugreek were higher than those in the control and Liquorice roots groups.3.Hens in fenugreek and liquorice produced more female and less male chicks compared to the control group.Some blood constituents :In Females:1.Fenugreek supplementation significantly (P≤0.01)increased estrogen, cortisol, ALT, AST and calcium of hens compered to liquorice group, however laying hens fed on diets supplemented with liquorice had significantly lower AST and ALT concentrations than those in control group.2.Laying hens in liquorice group had significantly higher concentrations of urea and albumin than those in fenugreek and control groups. However, no significant differences were observed in urea between fenugreek and control groups.3.Fenugreek and liquorice supplementation decreased creatinine, total protein and cholesterol concentrations of laying hens compared to control group, while, fenugreek group was higher than those in liquorice group.In Males:1.Fenugreek and liquorice groups significantly (P≤0.02) decreased the testosterone concentration of roosters compared to control group.2.No significant differences in serum cortisol, creatinine and cholesterol concentrations were observed among roosters in the Fenugreek and liquorice groups.3.ALT and AST concentrations of roosters fed on diets supplemented with fenugreek were significantly higher (0.04 to 0.02, respectively) than those in the liquorice group.Conclusion:The main findings can be summarized as follows:1.Using feathering as a method of determining sex in Fayoumi chickens at hatch.2.Although hormones and crowding is not recommended for use, while the method of hormones glucocorticoids (cortisol - estrogen) in the female must be shown to make sex bias at hatch as an indirect method (this instead of corticosterone hormone) 3. Using phytogenic substances (fenugreek and liquorice) resulted in female-biased and we recommend the expansion of more studies on this materials In order to prevent the use of hormones in the poultry industry, it can be confirmed that, from a practical point of view, fenugreek seeds and liquorice roots treatments can be used as alternatives to increase female biased offspring sex ratios in Fayoumi chickens without any adverse effects on the productive performance of Fayoumi chickens.