Impact of Different Levels of Vitamin D3 in Laying Hens Diet on Various Aspects of the Eggs

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to assess the impact of vitamin D3, on laying hens' performances, egg yolk fatty acid profile (FA), antioxidant compounds and vitamin transfer in the eggs. For that, one hundred twenty, 34 weeks old Lohmann Brown laying hens, were allocated to completely randomized block arrangement of three dietary treatments: T1, control (C) with 2500 IU/kg vitamin D3; T2 with 3000 IU/kg vitamin D3 and T3, with 3200 IU/kg vitamin D3. All diets had identical basal diet structure containing 17.50% crude protein and 2780 kcal/kg, metabolizable energy, being isocaloric and isonitrogenous. Feed intake and feed conversion ratio were significantly (p0.05) contribution of vitamin D3 supplementation was observed on total saturated fatty acids (SFA), unsaturated fatty acids (UFA) or monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) classes determined in egg yolk. From the sum of cis FA, significantly (p0.05) effect. Vitamin D3 transfer in eggs increased significantly (p<0.05) in T3 compared with T1 and T2 eggs, as a main effect of supplemental vitamin D3 in laying hens' diets.

Keywords

• antioxidants
• cholecalciferol
• egg quality
• fatty acids
• laying hens
• vitamin d3