Gisela Erf

1. IntroductionThe laying hen industry in the United States consists of approximately 330–340 million laying hens [1] that must first go through the growing phase known as the pullet phase. The pullet phase accounts for approximately 25% of a laying hen’s lifetime [2] and encompasses approximately 0–16 weeks of age (WOA). During this time, the pullet reaches sexual maturity and g ...

INTRODUCTIONInflammation is an important, highly conserved, innate immune system response. In birds, like in mammals, the inflammatory response is activated by various pathogen- or damage-associated molecular patterns through their interaction with cellular and soluble pattern-recognition receptors (Juul-Madsen et al., 2014; Kaspers and Kaiser, 2014; Abbas et al., 2018). For example, lipopolysacch ...