Use of yeast cell walls andYucca schidigera extractin layer hens' diets

摘要

This research was conducted to determinethe impact of diet supplementation with yeastcell walls (YCW) and Yucca schidigera extract(YE) on performance, egg weight, specificgravity, body weight, and intestinal tissue histology in layer hens. White, 48-week-old, Hylinehybrid hens (n=320) were divided intofour main groups, each comprising eightgroups of 10 hens: (1) control, (2) 500 mg/kgYCW added, (3) 500 mg/kg YE added and (4)250 mg/kg YE plus 2500 mg/kg YCW added.While the egg production and feed intake ofthe hens was significantly affected, overallfeed efficiency, damaged-egg ratio, dirty-eggratio, egg weight and specific gravity did notdiffer between the control group and the YCW,YE or YCW+YE groups. Final body weight washigher in the YCW, YE and YCW+YE groupsthan in the control group. There were differencesin the width, muscle layer thickness andheight/crypt depth ratio of the duodenal villusand the width of the ileal villus among the fourgroups. It can be concluded that YCW andYCW+YE supplementation for layer hens arebeneficial for egg production.