Ken Anderson

Bio

Dr. Kenneth Anderson earned his bachelor’s from Southern Illinois University and his master’s and Ph.D. from Kansas State University. His research program focuses on layer management, examining the interplay of genetics and the environment with the physiological response of hens, then correlating that interplay to hen behavior  and shell egg safety. He serves as director of the North Carolina Layer Performance and Management Program working in all aspects of layer husbandry and HPAI Control. In 2020 he was elected Fellow of the Poultry Science Association, the highest honor open to PSA members.

Animal Welfare and Management

As the Director of the North Carolina Layer Performance and Management Program and investigator on the associated test, I am providing the tool to address current industry production concerns.  This extension program has been ongoing since 1958 in cooperation with the NC Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services along with the Primary Breeders of Commercial Egg Strains.  Thirty-eight flocks have been completed and a major facility remodel is underway.  The initial purpose of the test was to provide strain evaluations in a common environment to the producers in North Carolina.  However, in recent years, the test and the support it provides have given the industry an avenue to examine common problems with the housing alternative environments and management of the different strains of leghorns available.  There are two other tests in the world but this test is the only one of its type, scope, and distribution remaining in the world. The NCLP&MT reports are sent to all the producers in North Carolina and an additional 230 reports are sent to producers, industry representatives, and academics throughout the US and 16 different countries.  In 2012 every report published was posted onto the internet and an historical summary of the first 37 tests was compiled. The primary breeders and egg companies are utilizing the test in increasing intensity to compare and evaluate the strains and the different environments imposed on them.

Area(s) of Expertise

Dr. Anderson works with the North Carolina Layer Performance and Management Test to enhance and address layer research to examine the interaction of management, environments and egg quality related issues.

Research interests include

• management of commercial laying flocks in range , cage-free, enriched colony and cage systems,
• influence of feed ingredient on nutrient composition of eggs,
• influence of production systems on egg quality, safety, and nutrient composition,
• microbiological integrity (health) of laying flocks,
• animal welfare as impacted by housing, management and molting techniques,
• forage management in range,
• regulatory impact on layer industry and
• mass depopulation in FAD situations.

Publications

• Broiler Breeders Fed Diets Supplemented with Conventional or Lipid Matrix Microencapsulated Trace Minerals at Standard or High Levels: Part I. Influence on Production, Skeletal Integrity, and Intestinal Histomorphology of Broiler Breeders , Poultry (2025)
• Broiler Breeders Fed Diets Supplemented with Conventional or Lipid Matrix Microencapsulated Trace Minerals at Standard or High Levels: Part II—Influence on Hatching Egg Quality , Poultry (2025)
• Determining how different ventilation shutdown plus methods change the electroencephalography, blood chemistry, corticosterone, and heat shock protein 70 of laying hens , FRONTIERS IN PHYSIOLOGY (2025)
• The comparative effects of ventilation shutdown with heat (VSDH), relative humidity (VSDHRh), or CO2 (VSDCO2) on broiler electroencephalogram (EEG), blood chemistry and gene expression , Journal of Applied Poultry Research (2025)
• The influence of genetic strain on production and egg quality amongst four strains of laying hens housed in a cage-free environment , POULTRY SCIENCE (2025)
• Comparing performance, morphological, physical, and chemical properties of eggs produced by 1940 Leghorn or a commercial 2016 Leghorn fed representative diets from 1940 to 2016 , JOURNAL OF APPLIED POULTRY RESEARCH (2024)
• Effect of Saccharomyces cerevisiae dietary supplementation (Original XPC TM ) and stocking density on production performance and egg quality in white strain hens , JOURNAL OF APPLIED POULTRY RESEARCH (2024)
• Effects of full-fat high-oleic soybean meal in layer diets on performance, egg quality and chemical composition , POULTRY SCIENCE (2024)
• Effects of full-fat high-oleic soybean meal in layer diets on nutrient digestibility and egg quality parameters of a white laying hen strain , POULTRY SCIENCE (2023)
• Evaluating the Ileal and Cecal Microbiota Composition of a 1940 Heritage Genetic Line and a 2016 Commercial Line of white Leghorns Fed Representative Diets from 1940 to 2016 , APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL (2023)

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