ArticlePoultry science2026
Variation in cranial and caudal keel bone composition and its association with keel damage severity in laying hens.
Article in Poultry science, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Keel bone damage is prevalent in commercial laying hen flocks and is commonly associated with reduced mineralization of this bone. The aim of this study was to characterize variation in cranial and caudal keel bone composition and to examine its association with keel damage severity in Bovans Brown laying hens. The cranial region of the keel was significantly more mineralized than the caudal region (mineral content: 53 ± 4 % vs. 46 ± 5 %, P < 0.05). Low to moderate correlations (r = -0.27 to 0.55, P < 0.05) were observed between keel bone chemical composition and radiographic measurements of keel shape (cranial depth, keel length, and mid-depth), suggesting that mineral matrix composition contributes to keel structural development. Furthermore, increasing keel damage severity, assessed by callus extent and size, was associated with significant reductions in lipid content (median: 0.06 to 0.03), mineral content (56 % to 52 %), and the mineral-to-organic ratio (1.7 to 1.4) in the cranial keel cortex (P < 0.05). These findings indicate that reduced keel bone mineralization was associated with increased susceptibility to deformation and fracture. Overall, this study enhances our understanding of keel bone biology in laying hens and identifies compositional factors that may contribute to susceptibility to keel damage and fractures.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.