Effects of silymarin and nano-silymarin on performance, egg quality, nutrient digestibility, and intestinal morphology of laying hens during storage

Abstract

In this study, nano-silymarin (NSM) was produced and compared with powdered (PSM) and lecithinized silymarin (LSM) on performance and egg quality in late-phase laying hens. Egg quality was assessed using fresh eggs or those stored under different temperatures (25 or 5 °C) for a period of 28 days. Seventy 80-weeks Lohmann LSL-Lite hens were allocated to 7 treatments with 10 replicates for 12 weeks. Treatments included: (1) control diet without silymarin, (2) daily intake of 100 mg PSM/kg body weight (BW), (3) daily intake of 200 mg PSM/kg BW, (4) daily intake of 100 mg NSM/kg BW, (5) daily intake of 200 mg NSM/kg BW, (6) daily intake of 100 mg LSM/kg BW, and (7) daily intake of 200 mg LSM/kg BW. Scanning electron microscopy showed that NSM was produced with size ranges between 5.84-52.86 nm. Bird study showed that egg production, egg weight, and egg mass increased and feed conversion ratio decreased than the control by silymarin supplementation in any form (p