THE INFLUENCE OF SUPPLEMENTING CHAMOMILE AND TURMERIC POWDER ON PRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE AND EGG QUALITY OF LAYING HENS | ||
| Egyptian Poultry Science Journal | ||
| Article 9, Volume 38, Issue 2, June 2018, Pages 451-463 PDF (557.49 K) | ||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||
| Author | ||
| Faten Mahmoud Attia* | ||
| Animal department, Faculty of Agriculture, Suez Canal University, Ismallia, Egypt | ||
| Abstract | ||
| An eight-week experiment was conducted to assess the effect of supplementing layer diets with various concentrations of chamomile (CH), turmeric (TR) and their combination (CH + TR) on the productive performance, egg quality traits and yolk chemical composition of laying hens. Total of 144 White Lohmann LSL layer hens, 43 weeks of age, were assigned to six treatments (6 replicates each x 4 birds). Treatments were control (no additives), 1.5 or 3.0 g CH/kg diet, 1.5 or 3.0 g TR /kg diet and 1.5 g CH + 1.5 g TR /kg diet. Egg weight, mass, production and feed conversion ratio were significantly improved by treatments. Chamomile 1.5 g or CH + TR resulted in the highest egg production, egg mass and the best feed conversion ratio. Egg weight was increased by TR or CH + TR inclusion. The treatments had no significant effect on feed intake. The effect of CH, TR and CH + TR on egg quality traits was inconsistent except for yolk color which was significantly improved by the treatments and was more pronounced by TR and CH + TR in comparison with the control. Treatments had no significant effect on the egg surface area, shell traits and albumen weight. Chamomile (1.5 g) improved shape index in comparison with the rest of the treatments except for CH + TR which significantly recorded the lowest index. Herbs supplementation negatively affected the yolk index. There was no significant effect on chemical composition of egg yolk, except for dry matter percentage which was significantly decreased by CH + TR combination. It can be concluded that chamomile, turmeric or their combination as feed supplementation to layer diets had favourable effects on the productive performance and yolk color; however, the effect on egg quality was inconsistent. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| Chamomile; Turmeric; Egg production; egg quality | ||
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