Vol. 11, Special Issue 1 (2022)

Author(s):
D Rambabu, V Chinni Preetam, M Venkateswarlu and B Ashok Reddy

Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to see how supplementing commercial laying hens with microencapsulated essential oils affected their performance, haugh unit score, albumen index, yolk index, serum biochemical profile, livability, and net profit. A total of 240 commercial laying hens aged 22 weeks were randomly allocated to three treatments, each having 20 duplicates of four birds. Control diet (CD), CD + micro-encapsulated essential oil (MEEO-I: thymol, carvacrol, and menthol), and CD + micro-encapsulated essential oil (MEEO-II: cinnamaldehyde, eugenol, and piperine) were given to the birds, respectively. The percentage of hen day egg production, feed efficiency, Haugh unit score, and serum total cholesterol content all increased significantly (P<0.05) in layers birds fed MEEO-I and MEEO-II diets. However, yolk index, livability, and serum total protein content were not significantly different (P>0.05). During the experimental period, the addition of microencapsulated essential oils to feed impacted the net profit per dozen eggs, which was greatest in MEEO-I @ 100g/ton of feed (Rs.15.66) and followed by MEEO-II @ 100g/ton of feed (Rs.15.11) compared to the control (Rs.14.49) diet (22-37 wks). Finally, it can be concluded that supplementing the layer diet with microencapsulated essential oils improved the overall performance of commercial layers.