Wild Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) survival, habitat use, and nest-site characteristics were studied on Malmaison Wildlife Management Area, Mississippi, 2003-2004. Survival rates were 0.55, 0.0004, 0.26, and 0.30 for jakes, adult gobblers, juvenile hens, and adult hens, respectively for the entire study. Spring survival for all groups was 0.51 (95% CI 0.36, 0.65) and was least among seasons. Predation (65%) and harvest (21%) were major causes of mortality. Brood hens used bottomland hardwood stands, pine plantations, and old fields more than expected during the post-nesting period. Non-brood hens used bottomland hardwood stands more than expected during the pre- and post-nesting periods. Forbs were the predominant vegetation type at nests. Vegetation height was 0.3-0.6 m for all nest sites. Vertical screening cover for all nests was in the 21-40% obscurity category at 1 m and 41-60% category at 3 and 5 meters. Vine composition differed between successful (2%) and unsuccessful (20%) nests (P = 0.03).

No description available.

Genetic selection for improved performance has necessitated the frequent update of amino acid requirements to support this improvement. The first objective of this dissertation was to investigate the tryptophan requirement of laying hens in peak production and the lysine and sulfur amino acid requirements of broiler chicks under a phase feeding scenario using different models. Digestible tryptophan requirements were estimated to be 137 for egg production, 133 for egg mass, and 133 for feed efficiency using the linear broken-line model. The lysine and sulfur amino acid requirement were estimated by conducting 3 experiments within the starter phase from 2 to 5, 5 to 8, and 8 to 11 days of age. The linear broken line estimate for digestible lysine was 1.22, 1.17 and 1.16% for BWG and 1.31, 1.21, and 1.14% for FCR in experiments 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The linear broken line estimate for sulfur amino acids was 0.82, 0.81 and 0.94% for BWG and 0.82, 0.80, and 0.90 for FCR in experiments 4, 5, and 6, respectively. The lysine requirements decreased from 2 to 5 to 8 to 11 days, however the sulfur amino acid requirements increased during that same period. This could be due to other roles that sulfur amino acids play in the body other than growth. The second objective of this dissertation was to investigate the effects of a direct fed microbial (DFM) on broilers exposed to a cyclic heat stress in 2 consecutive experiments. In this experiment, the heat stress treatment reduced body weight gain and lean tissue accretion from 0 to 35 d in both experiments. In Experiment 2, when the litter was reused BWG was increased by 36 g/bird with supplementation of DFM. Ileal digestibility at 28 d (2 hr post HS) was improved with DFM supplementation in both experiments. Serum FITC-d increased with HS at both 28 and 35 d. Serum FITC-d was generally decreased with DFM at 28 d but the response was inconsistent at 35 d. Overall, the results suggest that HS reduced broiler performance and DFM treatment improved intestinal permeability and nutrient digestibility responses to HS in both experiments but did not improve performance until built up litter was used in Experiment 2. The last objective of this dissertation was to investigate the effects of sulfur amino acids (SAA) on broilers exposed to a cyclic heat stress. As expected, HS reduced BWG and worsened FCR. The supplementation of SAA had no effect on live performance. At 28 d of age, supplementation of SAA to birds exposed to HS resulted in reduced intestinal permeability. The interaction was lost at 31 d, but HS still increased intestinal permeability (P ≤ 0.05). Potential oxidative damage was reduced by increased SAA supplementation as indicated by an increase in the reduced glutathione to oxidized glutathione ratio. These data suggest that intestinal permeability is compromised acutely to at least three days of heat exposure before the bird can adjust, but oxidative damage is more chronic building over the entire 7 d HS period. SAA might have some protective effect on both intestinal permeability and oxidative stress responses to HS. / Doctor of Philosophy / To provide low-cost meat and eggs to consumers, the poultry industry must focus on improving efficiency as well as reduce the impact of stressors within the environment. This is achieved mostly by genetic selection which has resulted in significant improvements in both egg production in laying hens and body weight in broiler chickens. To support this improvement in growth rate birds would require a higher amino acid dense diet to support the increased protein output. One objective of this dissertation was to update the requirement of three key amino acids (tryptophan, lysine, and sulfur amino acids) in both laying hens and broilers for better formulation of diets. These amino acids that were investigated are essential in poultry diets and cannot be produced by the birds. The results from the tryptophan experiment indicated that laying hens need 137 mg of tryptophan per day to maintain maximum egg production. Results from the lysine and sulfur amino acid requirement experiment in broiler chickens indicated that broilers need 1.31% lysine and 0.90% sulfur amino acids to support maximal growth, but these requirements change over time and would need to be adjusted based on the broiler's age. Heat stress in the poultry industry is a major challenge which can affect the growth rate as well as the welfare of broiler chickens. The second objective of this dissertation was to investigate different strategies to ameliorate the effects of heat stress. Supplementing direct fed microbials or probiotics in broiler diets has been proposed as one of those strategies. An experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of the supplementation of a DFM on broiler chickens exposed to heat stress. The results indicated that the DFM was able to ameliorate the negative impacts of the heat stress on nutrient digestibility and intestinal permeability but did not improve the growth of the chickens. Another experiment was conducted to evaluate another strategy to ameliorate the effects of heat stress on broiler chickens which was the supplementation of sulfur amino acids. The sulfur amino acids are not only used for protein synthesis but have other physiological roles in the body that are important specifically during heat stress. Results from this experiment indicated that sulfur amino acids were able to ameliorate the negative effect of heat stress on intestinal permeability and oxidative stress but did not improve the performance of chickens subjected to the heat stress.

A precision biotic (PB) in standard and reduced CP diets, and a protease (PRO) used alone and in combination with PB in the reduced CP diet were evaluated. Effects on performance, digestibility, and blood biomarkers were determined in Dekalb White hens from 24 to 42 weeks of age. Nine diets were fed: 1) a standard diet with a 17.5% formulated CP level (T1); 2) T1 with 500ppm PB (T2); 3) T1 with 700ppm PB (T3); 4) a reduced CP diet with a 15.5% formulated CP level (T4); 5) T4 with 500ppm PB (T5); 6) T4 with 700ppm PB (T6); 7) T4 with 33g/MT PRO (T7); 8) T4 with 33g/MT PRO and 500ppm PB (T8); and 9) T4 with 33g/MT PRO and 700ppm PB (T9). There were no overall differences for feed conversion, but the response of T9 over time suggests longer periods may result in improved feed conversion.

As productive performance is improved by breed selection, amino acid requirements may change to support this higher performance in poultry. The first objective of this dissertation was to update the valine and tryptophan requirement of small-framed laying hens and the lysine requirement of young broilers using empirical dose-response methods. The tryptophan requirement was estimated as 155.8 mg/d for egg mass, 153.2 mg/d for egg production and 140.4 mg/d for feed conversion ratio using a linear broken line model. For valine, the requirement was highest for egg mass, 597.3 mg/d, followed by egg production, 591.9 mg/d and feed conversion ratio (FCR), 500.5 mg/d. The lysine requirement of young chicks was estimated by conducting four short term experiments from 1 to 3, 3 to 5, 5 to 8 and 8 to 11 days of age, respectively. The lysine requirement from 1 to 3, 3 to 5 and 5 to 8 days of age were not able to be estimated as no dose response was observed on growth performance most likely due to an overestimation of the lysine requirement. Digestible lysine requirement from 8 to 11 days of age was 1.057%, 1.050% and 1.016% based on body weight gain, FCR and pectoralis major weight using a linear broken line model, respectively. In addition to determining amino acid requirements, research was conducted to develop a new bacterial protein meal for use in laying hens diets. The data suggested that diets containing 7.5% of the bacterial protein meal was able to at least maintain egg production in laying hens, but 15% bacterial protein meal resulted in reduced performance. The second objective of this dissertation was to investigate the effects of various concentrations of dietary vitamin D3 on pullet and laying hen performance, eggshell quality and bone health in laying hens. Pullets/hens were randomly assigned to five dietary treatments containing vitamin D3 from 1,681 to 68,348 IU/kg diet from day of hatch until 68 weeks of age. These data suggested that dietary vitamin D3 fed at 68,348 IU/kg resulted in reduced egg production, but vitamin D from 8,348 to 35,014 IU/kg diet maintained egg production, increased egg vitamin D content in a dose dependent manner, and generally increased both eggshell quality and pullet and hen bone mineral status. / Ph. D. / The goal of the poultry industry is to increase the efficiency of meat and egg production. To achieve this goal, laying hens with higher egg production and broilers with faster growth rates are genetically selected over time. By breed selection, laying hens are able to produce 2-3 additional eggs every year. The body weight of a broiler chicken raised today is approximately four times greater than one raised to the same age in 1958. This Increased egg production and body growth requires a higher nutrient intake, especially amino acids, to support protein production. One objective of this dissertation was to update the requirement of three amino acids (valine, tryptophan and lysine) in poultry production to provide current and accurate information to poultry producers. Valine, tryptophan and lysine are essential amino acids that cannot be synthesized by poultry in sufficient quanities and needs to be ingested from the diet. Three experiments were conducted to determine the valine and tryptophan requirement in laying hens and lysine requirement in broilers. The results of the current experiment show that a laying hen require at least 156 mg tryptophan and 597 mg valine per day to maximize egg production from 41 to 60 weeks of age. The broiler chicks need to ingest rations containing at least 1.06% lysine to support growth from 8 to 11 days of age. Bacterial protein meal is a feed ingredient that has been proposed for use in poultry diets. It is usually produced via the fermentation process by converting various substrates such as methane, methanol, or agriculture by-products into protein-rich biomass. The advantage of using bacterial protein meal in the poultry industry is to decrease feed cost and alleviate the demand on croplands. A novel bacterial protein meal, generated from waste water purification, was evaluated as a feedstuff for laying hens. Two levels of bacterial protein meal, 7.5 or 15%, were added to a regular laying hen diet to replace soybean. The results indicated that replacing soybean meal with 7.5% bacterial protein meal was a feasible solution for egg production but a 15% inclusion rate may result in a decreased egg production. During egg production, bone structural health can be reduced as laying hens age. This loss of bone structural health is due to the loss of bone mineral content, especially calcium and phosphorus, as laying hens produce the calcium rich eggshell. With age, decreased bone mineral mass will induce a higher probability of bone structural failure. Vitamin D plays an important role on calcium absorption and bone mineral deposition. In addition to benefits to skeletal health, the addition of vitamin D₃ in the diet will result in increased vitamin D₃ content in eggs used for human consumption. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the use of high concentrations of vitamin D to increase egg vitamin D content, improve eggshell quatility and increase hen skeletal health. The data suggest that adding vitamin D₃ from 8,300 to 35,000 IU/kg diet will increase egg viatimn D content, and generally improve eggshell and bone quality; however, adding vitamin D₃ at 68,000 IU/kg diet resulted in negative effects on pullet growth and subsequent egg production of adult hens.

Commercial laying hens are heavily selected for increased egg production, but little selection has occurred for resistance to extreme temperatures. The objective of the experiment was to determine the effects of a daily cyclic heat stress (HS) on performance, body temperature, egg quality, nitrogen corrected apparent metabolizable energy, and blood chemistry in laying hens at acute and chronic time points. In total, 407 pure line laying hen pullets (18 wk) were sourced from Hy-Line International and housed individually for the duration of the experiment. Feed intake, egg production, and body weights were significantly decreased while egg weight and feed efficiency increased due to HS exposure. All egg quality parameters except yolk weight were decreased by HS exposure, including Haugh unit, eggshell and albumen weights. Egg yolk weights were increased over the first 2 wk of HS before falling. Blood chemistry was affected by HS resulting in respiratory alkalosis likely caused by increased respiration and evaporative cooling. There was a decrease in the PCO2, an increase in pH and a reduction in iCa in the blood within 4 to 6 hours of HS when compared to pre-HS levels. The data indicate that the hens were negatively affected by HS and the response was different for acute and chronic time points. At the acute time point the changes to the hen's physiology were caused by altered blood chemistry, but after chronic exposure, the low feed intake seemed to influence the responses. / Master of Science / High environmental temperatures can cause laying hens to become heat stressed, including reduced egg production, egg quality, and body weight, and in some cases increased mortality. Two mechanisms to reduce heat production and increase heat dissipation are reduced feed intake and increased respiration rate during heat stress. The reduced feed intake can result in insufficient nutrients to maintain egg production and increased respiration rate can change the blood chemistry, reducing ionic calcium and ultimately causing thinner eggshells. The most efficient way to reduce the negative effects of heat stress is by avoidance through controlling the environmental temperature, however, above certain temperatures cooling methods fail. If heat stress conditions are reached, it is important to understand the genetic ability of the hen to minimize the negative consequences of elevated temperature. Therefore, the effects of a four-week heat stress were determined with a focus on hen performance, egg quality, and blood chemistry parameters in laying hens. Some parameters such as blood pH and ionized calcium, shell weight, and body temperature were negatively affected within four to six hours while others, such as shell thickness, Haugh unit, and egg production took longer to be affected. By the end of the experiment blood pH returned to pre-heat stress levels but feed intake was significantly reduced over the 4 wk HS period. This could indicate that the laying hens began to acclimate to the high environmental temperatures but were not able to completely overcome the negative effects.

I den stora hen-debatten under 2012 saknades barnens perspektiv. Syftet med denna uppsats är att belysa det genom att ta reda på vilka pronomen förskolebarn använder i sitt samtalande om barnboken Kivi och monsterhund som endast innehåller könsneutrala pronomen. Materialinsamlingen gjordes genom barnintervjuer i fokusgrupper där fyra- och femåriga förskolebarn fick samtala om boken och som analyseringsmetod har en mestadels kvantitativ metod använts för att ta reda på pronomenens frekvens. Resultaten visar att barnen inte reagerade nämnvärt på hen och använde det inte heller själva. Kivi omnämndes av barnen som han medan monsterhunden refererades till som den eller han.  Hypotesen att barnen skulle tillskriva Kivi sitt eget kön visade sig inte stämma då skillnaderna i pronomenanvändning pojkar och flickor emellan var minimala. Resultaten kan bero på att mannen ses som norm och kvinnor som ”det Andra” (de Beauvoir 2002) samt att barnlitteraturen domineras av pojkar. Resultaten överensstämmer också med tidigare forskning av Merrit & Kok (1995) som visar att karaktärer med könsneutrala namn tenderar att tillskrivas manligt kön. / In the great debate over the gender-neutral pronoun hen in 2012, the perspective of the children was missing. The aim of this bachelor essay is to shed light on that perspective by investigating which pronouns pre-school children use in conversation about the children’s book Kivi och monsterhund which contains only gender-neutral pronouns. The material was obtained through children’s interviews in focus groups where four- and five-year-old pre-school children talked about the book and the material was analyzed by using a mostly quantitative method to find out the frequency of the used pronouns. The results show that the children scarcely reacted to hen nor did they use it themselves. Kivi was referred to by the children as he while monsterhunden (the monster dog) was referred to as it or he. The hypothesis that the children would ascribe Kivi their own gender proved to be incorrect as the differences in use of pronouns between boys and girls were minimal. The results may be an effect of the man being viewed as the norm and women as “the Other” (de Beauvoir 2002) and the dominance of boys in children’s literature. The results also correlate to previous research by Merrit & Kok (1995) that show that characters with gender-neutral names tend to be ascribed male gender.

This thesis is based on a conversation about gender identity and the pronoun hen in an episode of the radio programme Tendens on Swedish public radio, P1. The participants of the conversation are a scholar and a journalist/show-host. The goal of the research has been to analyse how the conversation is constructed from its context and which topics that occur. The goal of the research has also been to analyse how the participants of the conversation position themselves and how the conversation composes and re-composes norms and values regarding gender identity in society. Critical discourse analysis, completed by Conversation analysis has been the theoretical and methodological approach. The result shows that the conversation functions well within its context and that the host Söderqvist and scholar Milles undertakedifferent parts and contributions in the interaction. The host undertakes the part as the presenter and questioner of problems and topics, which Milles then refute in her role as an expert. The result also shows that Söderqvist and Milles give voice to a diversity of topical and interactional positionings in the conversation, but that Söderqvist mainly positions himself as the audience’s representative. Furthermore the result shows that the participants recreate gender identity norms in the conversation. Milles dictums also carry tendencies to create and broaden norms.

Denna studie är en korbusbaserad undersökning som behandlar distributionen av olika funktioner hos pronomenet hen i sociala medier mellan 2012 och 2017. Sedan 2012, året då en stor debatt om hen briserade, har pronomenet börjat ta plats i svenska språket. Med data från korpusarna Bloggmix, Twittermix, Flashback och Familjeliv hämtade från Språkbankens textsamling med hjälp av sökverktyget Korp, analyseras totalt 186 hen. Data har taggats i åtta kategorier: könsöverskridande hen, anonymiserande hen och okänt kön, indefinit och generiskt hen, meta-hen, substantiverat hen, icke-mänskligt, otydligt och övrigt. Resultatet visar att den dominerande funktionen hos hen är anonymiserande hen och okänt kön med totalt 47%. Den andra mest förekommande användningsformen i materialet är generiskt hen med totalt 28%. Funktionen Meta-hen täcker totalt 13%. Detta resultat tyder på att pronomenet debatteras mindre i sociala medier i jämförelse med resultat från tidigare forskning där meta-hen visade sig vara den dominerade användningen under tidigare år (Ledin & Lyngfelt, 2013: 168). Istället är det mer vanligt att använda hen för att till exempel anonymisera, eller så är det inte möjligt att yttra sig om könsidentiteten hos en person då könet är okänt, och att det även istället är mer vanligt att använda pronomenet för att generalisera i olika sammanhang. Ett ytterligare resultat är att användningen av hen har ökat i både Bloggmix och Familjeliv fram till 2016, i Flashback noteras en trend av användningen som går både upp och ner över tid, och i Twittermix minskar användningen över tid. / This thesis is a corpus-based study, which aims to investigate both the distribution and function of the pronoun hen in social media platforms, during the time period 2012-2017. Since 2012, the year when a broad debate sparked regarding the use of hen, the pronoun has increasingly been incorporated into the Swedish language. By using the search-tool Korp, and the collection of texts provided by Språkbanken, 186 occurrences of hen have been analyzed. These occurrences were extracted from various social media corpora, specifically Bloggmix, Familjeliv, Flashback and Twittermix. The data were tagged into eight different categories: Könsöverskridande (Non-gender), Anonymising and Unknown-sex, Indefinite and generic, Meta, Nominalised, Non-human, Unclear and Other. The results show that the dominant function of hen are the anonymized- and unknown-hen, comprising up to 47% of all cases. Also, the second most prominent function is the Generic-hen, with a total of 28%. Finally, the function Meta-hen, covers about 13% of all occurrences. These result indicate that the pronoun is debated less in social media compared to results from previous studies where Meta-hen proved to be the dominant use in previous years (Ledin & Lyngfelt, 2013: 168). Instead it is more common to use hen in order to anonymize, for example, or when it is not possible to comment on the gender identity of a person when the sex is unknown, and that it is more common to generalize in different contexts instead. Moreover, it can be noted that the use of hen had increased on both Bloggmix and Familjeliv until 2016. Conversely, the data shows that its use on Flashback fluctuated over time, and showed a constant decline on Twittermix.

I denna intervjustudie har jag använt mig av kvalitativa intervjuer för att ta reda på hur pedagoger resonerar kring genus, könsroller och könsneutrala ord på förskolan. Intervjuerna har jag genomfört utifrån frågeställningar som tar upp pedagogers medvetenheten kring språk som genusformare, hur och vad de gör för att motverka de traditionella könsrollerna samt användningen av könsneutrala ord på förskolan. Resultatet visar att pedagogerna ser på barnen som individer istället för bärare av genus och att fokuset istället kan ligga på det specifika barnets intressen. Det är fokuset på individen och inte språket som pedagogerna talar om när det gäller att motverka de traditionella könsrollerna på förskolan.När de talar om könsneutrala ord diskuterar de ord som fungerar lika bra för flickor och pojkar, de nämner även det könsneutrala ordet hen. Men för att könsneutrala ord ska fungera och användas av pedagogerna på förskolorna behöver de mer kunskaper, det är i slutändan pedagogerna som måste förklara för både barn och vårdnadshavare om dess betydelse. / In this interview study I have used qualitative interviews to find out how educators in preschool reason about gender, gender roles and gender neutral words in preschool. The interviews are based on issues concerning awareness about language as a shaping factor of gender, how and what educators do to counteract traditional gender roles, and the use of gender neutral words in preschool. The result show that the educators look at children as individuals rather than as carriers of gender, and that the focus can be on a specific child's interest. It it also the individual focus not the language that the educators talk about when it comes to breaking the gender roles in preschool. When talking about gender neutral words they diskuss words that work just as well for both for girls and boys, the swedish gender neutral word “hen” is also mentioned. But in order for gender neutral words to work and be used by the educators in preschools they need more knowledge, it is ultimately the educators who must explain its meaning of it to both children and guardians.