Effect of the supplementation of the laying hens ration with different levels of anise (Pimpinella anisum )  seeds or oil on egg quality traits and certain immunity characteristics of Lohmann hens

Daraji,; K. Al, Waleed; Mashadani,; A. Al, H.; J. Al, Hazim; Hayani,

	Effect of the supplementation of the laying hens ration with different levels of anise (Pimpinella anisum ) seeds or oil on egg quality traits and certain immunity characteristics of Lohmann hens
iraqi poultry sciences journal
Article 1, Volume 3, Issue 1, 2008, Pages 100-120
Authors
; Waleed K. Al; ; H. A. Al; Hazim J. Al;
Abstract
This experiment was conducted at the Poultry Farm of College of Agriculture, University of Baghdad by using 150 Lohmann hens, 24 weeks old. Birds were randomly assigned to five treatment groups of 30 hens each. Each treatment group was constituted of three replicates with 10 hens each. Treatment groups were as follow: Control group (C), T1 and T2 represent the supplementation of anise powder to the birds diet at the levels of 2 or 4 Kg / ton of diet, respectively, and T3 and T4 represent the addition of anise oil to bird ration at the levels of 250 or 500 ml / ton of diet, respectively . Traits included in this experiment were: egg weight, yolk diameter, yolk height, albumen height, yolk weight, shell weight, shell thickness, haugh unit, the titre of serum antibodies against Newcastle disease and total count of bacteria in small and large intestines. Results indicated that the addition of different levels of anise seeds or oil to t he laying hens diet resulted in significant improvement in the total means of egg weight, yolk diameter, albumen height, yolk weight, shell weight, shell thickness and hugh unit and significant decrease in total count of bacteria in small and large intestines. However, dietary supplementation with anise oil (T3 and T4) resulted in significant improvement in titre of serum antibodies against Newcastle disease in comparison with C, T1 and T2 groups. In conclusion, feeding laying hens with diets containing anise seeds or oil resulted in clear amelioration in most of egg quality characteristics for eggs produced by these hens . Furthermore, treated the birds with anise especially anise oil resulted in significant improvement in general immunity of birds. Therefore, anise seeds and oil can be used as one of important nutritive supplements to the laying hens diet for improving productive performance certain immunity characteristics of Lohmann hens.

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