INFLUENCE OF ω-3 FATTY ACIDS SUPPLEMENTED
TO LAYING HENS' DIET
ON LAYING PERFORMANCE
Aleksandar
Andonov1, Dragan Šefer2, Radmila Marković2, Slađana Šobajić3, Goce Cilev4
1Provimi
Makedonija, Strašo Pindžur str. 7/35, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia
2Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Bul. Oslobođenja
18, Belgrade, Serbia
3Faculty of Pharmacy, Vojvode Stepe str. 450, Belgrade, Serbia
4University “SS. Cyril and Methodius”, Institute of
Animal Science,
Bul. Ilinden 92a, MK-1000 Skopje, Republic of Macedonia
alexand@mt.net.mk
A group-control
experiment for a period of 45 days was conducted in order to determine
the effects of use of ω-3 fatty acids on the production and economic
results of laying hens.
A total of 1264 Lohmann Brown layers were randomly devided into 4 experimental
treatments with 79 replicates (4 per cage, 316 hens per treatment). The first group was fed complete feed mixture for laying
hens with standard raw material and
chemical composition. The feed mixtures for treatments 2., 3. and 4. were
supplemented with ω-3 fatty acids. The source of ω-3 fatty acids was a
microalgae Schizochytrium spp.,
commercial product “DHA Gold” (Martek,
USA) in
quantities of 0.5, 0.7 and 1.0%, respectively. The use of ω-3 PUFA
supplement in higher inclusion rates, had a positive influence on the
laying intensity, significantly higher (p <0.01) in the experimental
groups supplemented in the amount of 0.7 and 1.0%. Layers of all
experimental groups fed supplemented feed mixtures had lower average egg
weights (68.1, 68.7 and 68.4 g) compared to the control group (68.8 g). However,
supplementation with higher inclusion rates of
ω-3 product resulted in higher total egg mass during the experiment (743
and 764 kg) in the third and fourth experimental groups, compared to the
control group (691.9 kg). Experimental groups with a higher inclusion of
ω-3 PUFA (0.7 and 1.0%), achieved higher daily consumption of 0.16% and
0.51% in comparison to the control group, but the best feed conversion
(2.38 and 2.32), while supplementation in the amount of 0.5% resulted in
the weakest conversion in the experimental group 2 (2.63). The lowest
feed cost per produced egg was achieved by the control group fed
complete, unsupplemented feed. Using supplemented feed with addition
of ω-3 PUFA – DHA above the 0.5%, a significant
difference was observed regarding the productivity of laying hens.
Key words: ω-3; layers; laying intensity; egg weight; feed conversion
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