The Effect of L-Glutamine on Basal Albumen and Yolk Indices and Albumen Amino Acids Composition

The current study tested the hypothesis that 1.0% dietary inclusion of L-glutamine (Gln), an non-essential amino acid that influences protein synthesis, can improve internal egg quality, including amino acids profile. Thirty-week-old Bovans Brown laying hens in their middle laying period were assigned to one of the two experimental groups (12 replicate cages, 2 hens/cage) with Gln in the form of alpha-ketoglutarate (10 g/kg) or without Gln inclusion. The experimental period lasted for 30 wks, from the 31st to the 60th week of age of hens, when eggs were collected and selected egg quality indices were determined. Gln supplementation had no effect on albumen and egg yolk share, albumen and yolk basal indices and composition, including yolk cholesterol content. However, Gln decreased the lipid content of the egg albumen (p < 0.001), and influenced albumen amino acid profile, increasing content of asparagine (p < 0.05), phenylalanine (p < 0.05), proline (p < 0.001), tryptophan (p < 0.01), and tyrosine (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the study shows a potential role of Gln supplementation for enhancing nutritional values of eggs by lower lipid content and higher amino acid profile.

Egg quality and coccidiosis infestation in three production systems for laying hens

A total of 240 white Shaver laying hens from 22 to 34 weeks of age were assigned to 3 treatments and 5 replications. The treatments included: i) Conventional (hens were kept in experimental building without access to outdoor area and fed with the conventional diet), ii) Semi-organic (hens were kept in experimental building with access to outdoor area and fed with the organic diet plus amino acids and vitamin-minerals supplement), and iii) Organic (hens were kept in experimental building with access to outdoor and fed with the organic diet). The results showed statistically significant differences in the feed intake, egg production, egg mass, egg weight, and change body weight(g) means among the treatments (p < 0.05). The hens kept in the organic treatment had fecal highest contain of oocytes coccidia (p < 0.05). The yolk color index and shell strength in the organic treatment significantly increased in comparison with that of other treatments (p < 0.05). The highest HDL was in the semi-organic and organic treatments (p < 0.05). The lowest egg yolk cholesterol concentration was found in hens kept in the semi-organic and organic treatments (p < 0.05). It is concluded that organic production system is useful for improving egg quality.

The Effect of Phytobiotics Supplementation and Magnetized Drinking Water on Production Performance and Egg Quality of Laying Hens

The experiment was conducted to evaluate the production performance and egg quality of laying hens supplemented with phytobiotics and magnetized drinking water. This experiment used 2700 gauss level in Magnetized Drinking Water (MDW). The phytobiotics had two form: the non-encapsulated phytobiotics (PTO) and encapsulated phytobiotics (EPTO). There were untreated water (control) and the treated water (MDW, PTO, PTO+MDW, EPTO, EPTO+MDW). The treatments were presented by 0.6% for each treatment. The result showed highly significant (p<0.01) improvement on feed conversion ratio (FCR) but no significant effect on other production performance variables including feed intake, hen day production (HDP), egg mass, and income over feed cost (IOFC). The results indicated a highly significant improvement (p<0.01) on egg weight and yolk cholesterol. There were no significant effects on shape index (SI), shell weight, shell thickness, Haugh unit (HU), albumen height, yolk weight, yolk index (YI), and yolk color of egg quality variables. It was concluded that the encapsulated form (EPTO and EPTO+MDW) had the best improvement on FCR and yolk cholesterol, on another hand the non-encapsulated form (PTO and PTO+MDW) increased the egg weight of laying hens

Egg Quality Parameters, Production Performance and Immunity of Laying Hens Supplemented with Plant Extracts

This study examined the effects of Mentha arvensis (MA) and Geranium thunbergii (GT) extracts in drinking water on the production performance, egg quality, cholesterol content of egg yolk, proximate composition, and sensory qualities of egg and immunity parameters in laying hens. Ninety-six 28-week-old Hy-Line Brown layers were randomly divided into four dietary treatments for 16 weeks. The dietary treatments were (1) control, (2) T1 (0.01% 1 MA:1 GT), (3) T2 (0.05% 1 MA:1 GT), and (4) T3 (0.1% 1 MA:1 GT). Egg production increased significantly with increasing levels of MA and GT. The egg weight was increased in T2, and the feed intake was highest in T2 and T3 (p < 0.05). The Haugh unit and egg shape index were significantly better in T3 and the control than with other treatments (p < 0.05). The content of yolk cholesterol was significantly lower (p < 0.05) in T2 and T3. On the other hand, there were no significant differences in the egg proximate composition. A significant increase in the serum interleukin 6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor (TNFα) and immunoglobulins (IgG and IgA) concentration was observed in the birds fed plant extracts when compared to the control. On average, T2 and T3 showed significantly lower (p < 0.05) concentrations of NH3 gas from the feces as compared to the control. This study suggests that MA and GT supplementation could improve the laying performance, egg quality, and immunity, and decrease the egg yolk cholesterol content in a dose-dependent manner.

The Effect of Supplementation of Avocado Seed Flour (Persea americana Mill.) in Feed on Blood Lipids Profile and Egg Yolk Cholesterol of Japanese Quail (Corturnix-corturnix japonica)

The purpose of this research is to determine the effect of avocado seed flour (ASF) supplementation in feed on blood lipids and quail egg yolk cholesterol. The materials were 100 female quails aged 4 weeks old with ration ingredients consist of corn, bran, paddy, soybean meal, fish flour, avocado seed flour, palm oil, CaCO3, premix, lysine, and methionine. The research conducted an experiment with 4 treatments of ASF supplementation levels incorporated into basal feed, namely 0% ASF (R0), 3% ASF (R1), 6% ASF (R2), and 9% ASF (R3). The observed variables included blood cholesterol, High Density Lipoprotein (HDL), Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL), triglyceride, and egg yolk cholesterol. The data were subjected to the one-way Analysis of variance (ANOVA) in a completely randomized design, followed by HSD test when differences between treatments were observed. The result showed that ASF supplementation significantly reduced blood cholesterol levels and the egg yolk cholesterol, did not significantly affect LDL and triglyceride levels. The HDL levels and egg yolk cholesterol tend to decrease as the level of ASF increased. It is concluded that avocado seed flour (ASF) supplementation up to 9% is safe for quail feed supplementation.

Effect of diet supplemented with black cumin (Nigella sativa) seeds on egg yolk fatty acid profile and egg yolk cholesterol level of Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica)

The aim of the study was to determine whether a diet with an addition of black cumin seeds (BCS) can be used in functional egg production. At 8 weeks of age, a flock of 96 female quails was divided into 3 groups. The control group received their standard feed (0 BCS). The diet offered to the test groups was supplemented with BCS in the amount of 20 and 50 g · kg–1, respectively. Dietary BCS supplementation decreased feed intake and improved feed efficiency. Egg yolk of the quail groups treated with BCS in their diet had by a lower percentage of SFA and an increased level of UFA. A significantly increase was observed in the level of PUFA, especially in PUFA n-6. The health-promoting properties of the product were indicated by the fact of a considerable reduction in the yolk cholesterol level. Unfortunately, n-6/n-3 ratio increased in the groups offered the BCS-supplemented diet and under these circumstances eggs obtained from quails receiving BCS in the diet did not meet the requirements of functional food.

Effects of Horsetail (Equisetum arvense) and Spirulina (Spirulina platensis) Dietary Supplementation on Laying Hens Productivity and Oxidative Status

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of dietary horsetail (Equisetum arvense) and spirulina (Spirulina platensis) supplementation on performance, egg quality, serum biochemical and antioxidant status of laying hens. A total of 648, 63-week-old Hy-Line W-36 layers were divided into nine groups with eight replicates per group (nine birds per replicate). A feeding trial was conducted under completely randomized design with factorial arrangement 3 × 3 consisting of three different dietary levels of horsetail supplementations (0, 0.25, and 0.50%, respectively) in combination with three levels of spirulina (0, 1, and 2%, respectively). Results showed that feed intake, egg production, egg weight and mass, and feed conversion ratio were not significantly affected by the dietary treatments. Eggshell thickness, strength, and yolk color were significantly improved in diets supplemented with 0.5% horsetail and 2% spirulina and their interactions. Egg yolk cholesterol was not significantly different among groups; however, a significant reduction was found when fed 2% spirulina. Serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) concentration decreased by supplementing 2% spirulina in diet; also, spirulina increased total superoxide dismutase (TSOD) and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) in laying hens. Overall, the findings indicated that the combination of horsetail and spirulina could have potential for improving the egg’s physical parameters, whereas spirulina was more effective in improving blood traits and oxidative status.

Performance and hypo-cholesterolemic response of laying hens fed cassava root sievate - based diets.

A total of one hundred and fifty (150) Nera ser-linked layer strains (32 weeks of age) were used to investigate the performance response, blood plasma and egg yolk cholesterol status of hens fed cassava roul sievate (CRS) bused - diets. CRS was used to replace wheat offal at 0, 5, 10, 15 und 20% respectively, resulting in five dietary treatments. Each treatment had 3 replicates with each replicate group having five hirds. The experiment lasted for 10 weeks. No significant effect of diers was noticed in the body weights, weight gain and daily feed intake. Fced conversion per dozen eggs, hen-day egg production and total egg produced significantly declined as CRS levels increased from 0 to 20% in the diets. Diets with 20% CARS had the poorest performance. However, the blood plasma, egg yolk and egg cholesterol concentrations were reduced significantly (p< 0.05) with increased level of CRS Dietary treatment with 20 % CARS had the lowest (P< 0.05) cholesterol concentration. Inclusion of up to 20% CRS led to 35% reduction in plasma total cholesterol, while 18 and 17% reductions were obtained in the egg yolk total cholesterol and total cholesterol per egy respectively. Replacement of up to 10% (w/w) wheat offal by CRS is therefore recommended 10 effectively reduce cholesterol content of the plasma ,egg yolk and whole egg by 20%, 10% and 17 % respectively at performance level that are comparable with that of the control group.