Effects of feeding semicarbazide to laying hens

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Abstract
Commercial laying hens ere fed diets containing semicarbazide (SC), a lathyrogen having properties similar to beta‐aminopropionitrile (BAPN), a naturally occurring lathyrogen. The administration of SC in the diet of laying hens produced some effects similar to that of BAPN intoxication. Differences ere also of course observed in their nature of toxicity. Unlike BAPN, SC reduced food consumption and consequently the body eight. The performance of laying hens indicated that SC is more toxic than BAPN although both the toxins shoed comparable effects at the 0·3 g kg−1 level. The level of SC that produces adverse effects appears to lie beteen 0 and 0·1 g kg−1 diet. It as concluded that SC could be used in place of BAPN for research ith layers but the levels need to be carefully determined on the basis of the objectives of the experiment.