Effects of Heat Stress on Growth Performance, Egg Production, Egg Quality, and Potential Controlling Strategies in Layer Chicken: A Review

Gobezie, Eyayu and Timotiwos, Ashenafi and Simeneh, Getahun (2025) Effects of Heat Stress on Growth Performance, Egg Production, Egg Quality, and Potential Controlling Strategies in Layer Chicken: A Review. World's Veterinary Journal. 1130 - 1137. ISSN 2322-4568

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Abstract

Egg production is a key indicator of laying hens' reproductive efficiency. High ambient temperatures cause heat stress in laying hens, which negatively impacts their health, behavior, blood chemistry, feed intake, egg production, and egg quality. The present study aimed to focus on the effects of heat stress on growth performance, egg production, egg quality, and potential controlling strategies for heat stress in layer chickens. Heat stress reduces body weight, feed efficiency, egg yield, and egg quality. Reduced feed intake is the main reason contributing to its negative impacts on production. The reduced feed intake and decreased nutrient digestibility have adverse effects on egg quality and production performance. Heat stress reduces egg production and impairs the behavior, welfare, and immunity of layer chickens, resulting in significant financial losses. Higher ambient temperatures (above 25°C) can lead to lower egg quality (soft shells or shell-less eggs), weakened skeletal integrity in hens, and fewer eggs. Poor hatchability results from reduced feed intake due to high temperatures, which adversely affects semen fertility and quality. Eggs produced under extreme heat stress had lower Haugh units, egg yolk color, and eggshell thickness and strength. Overcrowding, also known as high stocking density, adversely affects animal health by degrading their habitat and increasing competition for resources such as feed, which can ultimately lead to feather pecking and cannibalism. Due to a quicker metabolic rate, chickens produce more body heat and are more susceptible to heat stress. High stocking density and high ambient temperature increase the risk of heat stress. Reducing stocking density to prevent heat stress may limit the number of hens that can be raised in a given space. Heat stress significantly reduces egg production, egg quality, and egg weight in laying hens under hot conditions. The current findings highlighted the need for improved environmental management and methods to mitigate the harmful effects of heat stress in laying hens. © The Author(s) 2025. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article�s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article�s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Egg production; Egg quality; Egg weight; Heat stress; Laying chicken
Subjects:	S Agriculture > SF Animal culture
Divisions:	World's Veterinary Journal (WVJ)
Page Range:	1130 - 1137
Journal or Publication Title:	World's Veterinary Journal
Journal Index:	Scopus
Volume:	15
Number:	4
Publisher:	Scienceline Publication
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.54203/scil.2025.wvj116
ISSN:	2322-4568
Depositing User:	Dr. Alireza Sadeghi
URI:	https://eprints.science-line.com/id/eprint/1660

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