Author : Serrano, Jose V. Jr.

Summary : This study was composed of two experiments. The aim of the first experiment was to study the response of native hens to two forced molting treatments and in the second experiment to investigate the effects of two forced molting treatments on native roosters. Sixty-eight native hens and 13 native roosters were used in Experiment 1 and 2, respectively. These native hens and roosters were randomly assigned to three treatment groups. One group in each experiment was designated as control (CON), wherein the hens or roosters were not subjected to forced molting. The two other groups were subjected to either the conventional feed deprivation (FD) or the incorporation of two percent zinc oxide in the ration (ZN) as forced molting methods. Data from the first experiment showed that the untreated native hens had significantly higher percent hen-day egg production, number of eggs, and total egg mass produced compared to the hens fed with zinc oxide. No significant differences were found among treatments in egg weight, egg shell thickness, percent yolk, percent albumen, egg shell weight, and percent egg shell. On the other hand, the eggs from hens in the FD treatment had significantly higher yolk weight and albumen weight than those from the CON and ZN treatments. Results of the second experiment indicated that the two forced molting methods failed to hasten the shedding of the primary and secondary wing feathers of the native roosters. The semen volume, sperm concentration, and sperm motility of the native roosters after recovery were not significantly affected by forced molting.