Effects of supplementation of different levels of garlic (Allium sativum) on egg production, egg quality and hatchability of White Leghorn chicken

摘要

A 90 days study was conducted to evaluate the effect of feeding different levels of garlic powder inclusion on dry matter (DM) intake, egg production, egg quality, yolk cholesterol, fertility, hatchability, embryonic mortality, chicken mortality and chick quality of white leghorn layers. Some haematological values, total Protein and total immunoglobulin was also evaluated. A total of 180 chickens (156 layers and 24 cocks) with uniform body weight (BW) and eight month age were randomly distributed in to 12 pens and assigned to 4 treatments. Treatments were rations containing 0, 1, 2, and 3% garlic powder for Gp-1, Gp-2, Gp-3 and Gp-4, respectively. The CP and ME content of treatment rations were 16-16.6% and 3021 -3244 kcal/kg DM, respectively. Body weight gain, hen-day and hen-housed egg production did not differ among treatments. Feed efficiency ratio (FER) and egg mass (EM) were not affected by the treatment. Albumen weight, albumen height, Haugh unit, yolk index, yolk height, egg weight, fertility, hatchability, embryonic mortality, chick weight and chick visual score were not affected by the treatments. An improvement was observed for yolk diameter, yolk weight, chick length and yolk color at 2% inclusion of garlic compared with other treatments. Shell thickness and and shell weight were not affected by the treatment. The mortality percentage of the control treatment was higher over other treatments. Inclusion of 2% garlic powder improved yolk weight, yolk diameter, yolk color, and chick length, and lowered hen mortality. Mixing layer diets with 1-3% garlic powder could be used to improve some egg quality parameters without adverse effects on performance.