Effects of mixed organic acids supplementation in laying hens on production performance and egg quality

Abstract

The use of antibiotics in diet or water, intended to prevent diseases or promote growth, may cause antibiotic residue in animal products. This experiment was designed to evaluate the effects of mixed organic acids supplementation in laying hen diet and drinking water on production performance and egg quality. Eighty four Hy-Line Brown hens at 22 week old were divided into 7 treatments with 4 replications (3 hens for each replication). The experimental group consists of control diet, diet with enrofloxacin, diet with mixed organic acid at 0.2 or 0.3% and drinking water with mixed organic acid solution at 0.1, 0.2 or 0.3%. Laying hen were reared in the open house system with 16 hours of lighting and received diet and drinking water for 4 weeks (22 - 25 weeks of age). Egg production, egg weight, feed intake, FCR were recorded, and egg quality were measured at final week of experiment. The results showed that mixed organic acid supplementation had no effect on egg production, egg weight, feed intake, FCR and feed cost per kilogram egg (P>0.05). Supplementation of mixed organic acids in drinking water increased egg mass significantly (P<0.01). The results of eggs quality showed that supplementing mixed organic acids in drinking water at 0.1% level increased whole egg weight (P<0.01).