Quality Assessment of Eggs from Laying Hens fed with a Plant Mixture Supplement

Abstract

The aim of this study, carried out on 60 TETRA SL (32 weeks old) laying hens, was to determine the effect of dietary plant mixture (sea buckthorn meal (50%), walnut leaves (25%) and bilberry leaves (25%)) on egg quality. The birds were allocated in two experimental groups, 30 birds each. The control group (C) was fed a conventional diet, without the experimental additive. All diets had similar levels of protein (18.90% (C) and 18.55% (E)) and energy (3962 Kcal/Kg (C) and 4009 Kcal/Kg gross energy (E)). Diet of hens from experimental group was supplemented with 1.0% of plant mixture. In the experimental period, 18 eggs from each group were collected twice (week 2 and 4 of experiment). Eggs were analyzed for proximate composition contents. The experimental group additions of plant mixture increased the crude protein in egg yolk and decreased the crude fat. Our results show that addi­tion of 1.0% plant mixture improved the quality of eggs and it can be recommended in feed for laying hens.

Keywords

• eggs
• lipid degradation indices
• plant mixture
• proximate composition