The influence of furazolidone on egg weight of chickens.

Abstract FURAZOLIDONE is a broad spectrum antimicrobial agent used extensively in the commercial poultry industry to control diseases and stress. Increased egg production obtained by continuous feeding of furazolidone has been reported by Stephenson (1956), Scott (1958), Carlson (1958) and Okamoto et al. (1963). An increase in the percentage of large eggs was reported by Scott (1958) and Kurnick (1960). Several of these workers have also reported improved feed efficiency. Other workers have observed no improvement in egg weight, hatchability, egg production or feed efficiency, (Thayer, 1956; Carlson, 1960; Francis and Shaffner, 1956). Furazolidone improved percent production of relatively poor layers experiencing high mortality during hot and cold weather, but no beneficial influence on egg weight was obtained (Heywang, 1965). Because of the apparent differences reported from various laboratories and because of the wide use of furazolidone in the commercial poultry industry, a series of studies was conducted to further study…