Effects of dietary mulberry leaves (Morus alba L.) on egg yolk color

Abstract

To investigate the effects of dietary mulberry leaves on egg yolk color and egg quality, a total of 192 laying hen CP Brown were randomly allotted into 4 groups with 4 replicate of 12 chickens per replicates. Each replicate was furthermore divided into 4 large cages (40×40×36 cm) with 3 birds. Dried mulberry leaves were supplemented to a basal diet (17.50 CP, 2750 kcal/kg ME) at 0 (control), 1, 2 and 3% for 45 days. Compared to control, any adverse effects were not observed in feed intake, body weight gain, egg production rate, egg weight, yolk weight, albumin weight, shell thickness and Haugh unit in dietary mulberry leaves groups. However, pigmentation score of yolk color measured using Roche yolk color fan was higher in all treatment groups (10.73 to 10.86) than in the control (10.34) (P<0.05), and the 2% dietary mulberry leaves group showed the highest value. These results suggest that the mulberry leaves can improve the pigmentation of egg yolk, and that the mulberry leaves also can become the egg color source until 3% supplementation. © 2009, Japan Poultry Science Association.