ABSTRACT:The effects of laying hen age and the housing of laying hens in conventional cages, enriched cages, litter system and outdoor system on egg weight and yolk and egg cholesterol concentration were studied. ISA brown laying hens were used in the experiment. The characteristics were measured at 39, 50, 59, 68 and 75 weeks of age. Fifteen eggs were always collected from each housing system. In total, 300 eggs were analyzed. There were not any significantly different results in the eggs from the hens living in the different housing systems or from the age of laying hens on the weight of eggs. But the housing system and the age of hens had a significant (P ≤ 0.01) effect on both yolk and egg cholesterol concentration. The concentration of yolk and egg cholesterol was the lowest (P ≤ 0.01) in the enriched cages (12.5 mg/g yolk and 211.2 mg/egg) and the highest in the litter technology (14.1 mg/g yolk and 242.6 mg/egg). Further, there was a significant (P ≤ 0.01) influence of the interaction between the housing system and the age of hens on egg weight and on yolk and egg cholesterol concentration.

Proliferative kidney disease (PKD) is an endoparasitic infectious disease of mainly salmonid fish caused by Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae

Here, we present the results of a 2-year field trial aimed at testing the effect of overwintering on different feeds on the course of Nosema ceranae infection. In August 2015, four experimental bee colony groups were established. After the last honey harvest, each colony was provided with 20 kg of feed, either honey, sugar (3:2 solution in tap water), inverted syrup made of sucrose, or wheat starch syrup. Samples of live bees were collected from each beehive in August (before feeding), November, and May. The following year, feeding and sampling were performed in the same way. Bees were examined microscopically to estimate the percentage of Nosema-infected individuals in the sample and the spore number per bee. Fitness parameters were also measured in all colonies. In all hives, presence of N. ceranae was confirmed through polymerase chain reaction. Nosema apis was not detected in the apiary. Significant differences in nosematosis prevalence and/or intensity were observed between the experimental groups. For most parameters, best results were recorded in the group fed with honey. Worst fitness and highest nosematosis prevalence and intensity were found in colonies fed with wheat starch syrup.

The aim of this article is to characterise the form of capital structures in start-up companies in the Czech economy and to identify what determines them. The choice of theme for this research was motivated by the important role that start-up companies have played in the development of economies especially in its contribution to employment, while having a low empirical understanding of the structure of capital resources of the fi rms. In this contribution, we have managed to identify the average form of the capital structures of start-up companies in the Czech economy. Moreover, they were in keeping with the Trade-Off Theory of Capital Structure testing the factors determining the composition of the capital resources of the fi rms. However it was only possible to empirically support the conclusions in part.

The objective of the present study was a detailed analysis of the body conformation of the Old Kladruby horse in the Stud Farm Kladruby. We applied 26 body dimensions, 9 angles of extremity joints and 12 hippo-metrical indices of 167 breeding horses to analyse the population according to the colouration (grey, black), lines (9 lines), sex (stallions and mares) and age categories (4 classes). The resulting measures were analysed statistically by means of a linear model with fixed effects (GLM). Most of the statistical highly significant differences were differences detected between stallions and mares and between the Old Kladruby grey and black horses. The stallions have a significantly longer profile of the head (by more than 1 cm) and width of the cheeks. The mares have a highly significantly larger chest (longer by 2.9 cm, more deeply by 3.3 cm), width of coxae and angles of the shoulder and knee joints. The black horses have highly significantly longer profile of the head (by more than 2.5 cm) and width of cheeks, longer the blade-bone and significantly longer the pelvis (by 2.3 cm). The grey horses have highly significantly shorter arm and forearm, longer metacarpus, pastern and shinbone. The differences between age categories are highly significant by heights of body, girth and by hippo-metrical indices. The differences among the lines of the same colouration are minimal. Only white line Rudolfo is significantly small sized and the least compact.