Effect of different levels of lutein on laying performance and egg quality in laying hens

Abstract

Seventy Brown-Nick laying hens (39-wk old) were divided into 5 treatment groups of similar mean body weight and egg production, comprising 14 birds in each. The birds were housed in individual cages in a completely randomized design and 16:8 h light:dark photoperiod was employed. The birds were fed standard layer diets containing different levels of lutein for 6 weeks. Treatment groups included control (without lutein), 100, 200, 400 and 800 ppm lutein respectively. The results attained from this study indicated that, different levels of lutein did not have a significant effect on final body weight, feed intake and feed conversion ratio but egg production was different between treatment groups. Also, it was observed that egg width, albumen width, shell weight, egg shape index, yolk index, yolk height and shell thickness were affected by lutein. Feeding diet containing different levels of lutein had a significant effect on egg yolk colour. It can be concluded that, adding of lutein in layer hens' diet can improve the laying performance and egg quality.