مجلة الأنبار للعلوم الزراعية (Jun 2024)

INDIVIDUAL AND SYNERGISTIC EFFECT OF THE ADDITION OF ASTAXANTHIN AND MAGNOLOL COMPARED WITH VITAMIN E TO THE DIET OF LAYING HENS ON SOME PHYSIOLOGICAL TRAITS AND OXIDATION INDICATORS OF STORED EGGS

  • H. H. Nafea,
  • M. Th. Ahmed

DOI
https://doi.org/10.32649/ajas.2023.141634.1057
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 22, no. 1
pp. 719 – 734

Abstract

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The aim of the study is to determine the individual and synergistic effects of adding astaxanthin and magnolol to the diet of laying hens of the Lohman Brown breed on some physiological traits and oxidation indicators of stored eggs. The experiment continued for five periods (28 days per period) from 3/20/2022 to 8/7/2022 (20 weeks). A total of 120 laying hens, 52 weeks of age, were used and randomly distributed into eight experimental treatments, with five replicates per treatment and three chickens per replicate. The treatments included: Control (basal diet without any addition), T2: vitamin E supplementation 300 mg/kg feed, T3 and T4: adding astaxanthin 200 and 400 mg/kg feed sequentially, T5 and T6: adding magnolol 200 and 400 mg/kg feed sequentially, and T7 and T8: adding a mixture of astaxanthin 100 mg/kg of feed + magnolol 100 mg/kg of feed, and astaxanthin 200 mg/kg of feed + magnolol 200 mg/kg of feed sequentially. The results showed that T6 had a significant increase (P≤0.05) in hematocrit (PCV%) and red blood cells (RBC) compared to T2 and T7, while white blood cells (WBC) in T3 recorded a significant increase (P≤0.05) compared to T1, T5, and T7. As for the percentage of lymphocytes, T7 achieved a significant increase (P≤0.05) compared to T3. The results also showed that T8 recorded a significant decrease (P≤0.05) in the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), the percentage of free fatty acids (%FFA), and the peroxide value (P.V) in the yolk compared with T1. Additionally, when storing eggs by cooling at a temperature of 4 °C for a period of 15 and 30 days, there was a significant decrease (P≤0.05) in the studied oxidation indices for all treatments of the experiment compared with T1. We conclude from the study that the addition of natural antioxidants (astaxanthin and magnolol) to the diet of old laying hens reared during temperate and hot times in Iraqi climates leads to an improvement in the health status of chickens and maintains the quality of fresh and stored eggs by reducing lipid oxidation in the yolk.

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