Review of Factors Affecting Egg Quality and Its Effect

Fanta Abebe, Henok Mulatu, Samuel Kelemework — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0300

Purpose: Global commercial egg production, it is estimated that over 75% of hens are reared in cages but trends are emerging for maintaining layers in animal-friendly systems. The alternative systems have focused on developing better animal welfare and behaviour for laying hens.

Methodology: The study adopted desktop literature review.

Findings: Egg quality is an important factor influencing consumer purchase of eggs eggshell quality is one of the critical factors affecting overall egg quality before and after harvest. The quality of eggs is affected by some factors of both internal (genetic influences, age of the hen, laying cycle stage) and external nature, such as the nutritional level, microclimate parameters, and the system of management and housing system selected is economically important and also eggs are used in many food preparations and many industries the effect of some of these factors such as disease has been known for a long time while other factors such as certain drugs have been studied only in the past year or two. Certain drugs serve a very useful purpose when used for the purpose for which they were intended but when inadvertently fed to laying chickens may have disastrous effects.

Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: promoting awareness to producers, consumers, and food processing industries to Ensure Food Safety of Eggs by applying proper hygiene practices in egg production and processing. Food poisoning special care is needed with handling and preparing fresh eggs or egg products; frozen, liquid, or dried egg products for consumption.

Ethno-Veterinary Use of Medicinal Plants in the Selected Districts of Siltie Zone, Southern Ethiopia

Ufaysa Gensa, Dureti Ensarmo, Redwan Anwar — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0300

Purpose: Despite the wide use of traditional medicinal plants to treat animal and human ailments in Siltie zone Ethiopia, the detailed ethno-veterinary knowledge was unexplored. The aim of the study was to investigate the ethno-veterinary medicinal plants used in the selected districts of Siltie zone, Southern Ethiopia.

Methodology: To identify and collect data related to medicinal plants and their traditional use, the pre-tested, semi-structured questionnaire-based survey was followed. The elderly willing farmers and experienced traditional healers were involved by using snowball sampling procedures from purposively selected study districts. Subsequently, the plant specimens were caught and their leaves were collected, pressed and the identification of the plant was done within Werabe University in the Department of Biology.

Findings: In the survey, 39 plant species and 35 genera from 26 families were identified and documented for treating 30 types of domestic animal diseases. The majority of plant species were grouped under the family Solanaceae (10.3%). The most frequently used plant part for remedy preparation was leaf 48 (58.3%), followed by root 16 (19.1%), seed 12 (14.3%) fruit 4 (4.7%), bark 2 (2.4%) and stem 1 (1.2%). It was found that most of the remedial preparation was delivered through the oral route (63.1%), followed by nasal (25%), topical (10.7%) and another route (1%). The highest fidelity (FL) value was recorded for Brassica carinata (A.) Br. (100%) and Schinus molle L. (100%), while the lowest was Phytolacca dodecandra L’Her (50%). The reproductive disease ailment category showed the highest (0.75) Informant Consensus Factor (ICF), while the ICF value of (0) was observed for external parasitic infestation and wound. In direct matrix ranking computed, Vernonia amygdalina Del. is the largest multipurpose use plant.

Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The present study showed a rich knowledge of traditional medicinal plant use for animal disease treatment in the study districts and necessitated their conservation for the future generations. The findings indicated a need for further investigation to determine active medicinal agent, toxicity, and efficacy of medicinal plant that the traditional healers in the study districts used.

Journal of Animal Health

Review of Factors Affecting Egg Quality and Its Effect

Ethno-Veterinary Use of Medicinal Plants in the Selected Districts of Siltie Zone, Southern Ethiopia