Performance of Laying Hens Fed Diets Containing DAS-59122-7 Maize Grain Compared with Diets Containing Nontransgenic Maize Grain

• Published in: Poultry science Vol. 87; no. 3; pp. 475 - 479
• Main Authors: Jacobs, C.M, Utterback, P.L, Parsons, C.M, Rice, D, Smith, B, Hinds, M, Liebergesell, M, Sauber, T
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Poultry Science Association 01.03.2008; Oxford University Press
• Subjects: Animal Feed; Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena - physiology; animal performance; Animals; Bacterial Proteins; Bacterial Toxins; Body Composition; body weight; Chickens - growth & development; corn; egg production; egg weight; Eggs - standards; Endotoxins; event DAS-59122-7; feed conversion; feed grains; Female; Haugh units; Hemolysin Proteins; hen feeding; laying hens; liveweight gain; nutritive value; Oviposition - physiology; Pest Control, Biological; Plants, Genetically Modified; pullets; Random Allocation; transgenic plants; Weight Gain; Zea mays; Zea mays - genetics; egg production; corn rootworm; egg quality; Cry34Ab1; Cry35Ab1
• ISSN: 0032-5791; 1525-3171
• DOI: 10.3382/ps.2007-00217

An experiment using 216 Hy-Line W-36 pullets was conducted to evaluate transgenic maize grain containing the cry34Ab1 and cry35Ab1 genes from a Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) strain and the phosphinothricin ace-tyltransferase (pat) gene from Streptomyces viridochromogenes. Expression of the cry34Ab1 and cry35Ab1 genes confers resistance to corn rootworms, and the pat gene confers tolerance to herbicides containing glufosinate-ammonium. Pullets (20 wk of age) were placed in cage lots (3 hens/cage, 2 cages/lot) and were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 corn-soybean meal dietary treatments (12 lots/treatment) formulated with the following maize grains: near-isogenic control (control), conventional maize, and transgenic test corn line 59122 containing event DAS-59122-7. Differences between 59122 and control group means were evaluated with statistical significance at P < 0.05. Body weight and gain, egg production, egg mass, and feed efficiency for hens fed the 59122 corn were not significantly different from the respective values for hens fed diets formulated with control maize grain. Egg component weights, Haugh unit measures, and egg weight class distribution were similar regardless of the corn source. This research indicates that performance of hens fed diets containing 59122 maize grain, as measured by egg production and egg quality, was similar to that of hens fed diets formulated with near-isogenic corn grain.