Combined Effect of Genotype, Housing System, and Calcium on Performance and Eggshell Quality of Laying Hens

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Hen performance and eggshell quality are affected by a wide range of factors from which genotype. The housing conditions and feed calcium (Ca) level might be considered the most important. Here, we compared the performance and eggshell quality of commercial hybrids (ISA Brown, Bovans Brown) and traditional Czech hybrid (Moravia BSL). Laying hens were housed in enriched cages and on littered pens and fed two different Ca levels (3.00% vs. 3.50%). Contrary to the commercial hybrids, Moravia BSL performed better under the lower feed Ca level in enriched cages. Additionally, the data pointed out the importance of studying the interaction between factors, which might help to decide the best housing system and feed Ca level for a certain hen genotype. ABSTRACT: The objective of this study was to evaluate hen performance and eggshell quality response to genotype, housing system, and feed calcium (Ca) level. For this purpose, an experiment was conducted on 360 laying hens of ISA Brown, Bovans Brown (commercial hybrids), and Moravia BSL (traditional Czech hybrid). Laying hens were kept in enriched cages and on littered floor and fed similar feed mixtures with different Ca content (3.00% vs. 3.50%). In terms of hen performance, ISA Brown had the highest egg production (84.2%) compared to Moravia BSL (74.3%) and Bovans Brown (71.4%). Regarding eggshell quality, Bovans Brown showed the highest values of all eggshell quality parameters. Increasing feed Ca level augmented egg production (p ≤ 0.001) but had no effect on other performance parameters. Except eggshell thickness, all eggshell quality parameters were affected by the three-way interaction of genotype, housing, and Ca. Bovans Brown, which had the strongest eggshells (5089 g/cm(2)) when housed on a littered floor system and fed 3.00% Ca, while Moravia BSL housed on a littered floor had the weakest eggshells (4236 g/cm(2)) at 3.50% Ca. The study pointed out the importance of the interactions between studied factors on performance and eggshell quality compared to an individual factor effect.