The effects of dietary supplementation of a commercial probiotic (BioPlus 2B) on daily feed consumption, egg yield, egg weight, specific gravity, body weight, feed conversion ratio, serum and egg yolk cholesterol, and serum trigylceride in layer hens were investigated. In 12 replicates, 480 27-week-old Brown-Nick layers were fed with diets containing 0, 250, 500 or 750 mg kg(-1) probiotic for 90 days. When compared with the controls, supplementation of 250, 500 and 750 mg kg(-1) probiotic increased egg production, but decreased the damaged egg ratio (p < 0.05), egg yolk cholesterol and serum cholesterol (p < 0.001) levels. In addition, serum triglyceride levels were reduced by using 500 and 750 mg kg(-1) probiotic supplementation (p < 0.001). Feed conversion ratios were positively affected by supplementation of 250 and 500 mg kg(-1) probiotic compared with controls (p < 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference between the control and all treatment groups on feed consumption, egg weight, specific gravity, body weight, and egg yolk weight.

1. The effects of dietary supplementation of a commercial probiotic (Protexin) on daily feed consumption, egg yield, egg weight, food conversion ratio and humoral immune response in layer hens were investigated. In 7 replicates, a total of 280 40-week-old layers were given diets containing either 0, 250, 500 or 750 parts per million (ppm) for 90 d. 2. When compared with the controls, the food consumption, food conversion ratio and the proportions of damaged eggs were lower in the group consuming 500 ppm probiotic (P<0.05). 3. There was no significant difference between the controls and the groups receiving 250 and 750 ppm probiotic in food consumption, food conversion ratio and proportion of damaged eggs. Similarly, the egg yield, egg weight, specific gravity, and peripheral immune response showed no statistically significant differences between the groups.

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1. This study was conducted as three trials. 2. In the first trial, zinc, manganese, copper and iron concentrations were determined in dietary raw materials collected from various regions of Turkey. 3. In the second trial, 200 Hisex Brown laying hens, 30 weeks of age, were divided into two groups. The first group served as controls and were fed on a standard commercial layer diet. The second group were fed on a commercial layer diet that was not supplemented with trace minerals and vitamins. Egg production, egg weight, specific gravity, food consumption and food efficiency of the birds in each group were determined. In the unsupplemented group, egg production (0.75 vs 0.83) and food intake (114 vs 122 g) were lower than the those of the control group (P < 0.05). Food efficiency was 2.42 (kg food/kg gain) in the group consuming the unsupplemented diet and 2.36 in the controls. 4. In the third trial, as in Trial 2, Hisex Brown laying hens, 62 weeks of age were used. In the unsupplemented group, the mean egg weight was significantly lower than that of controls (68.0 vs 69.6 g) (P < 0.01). 5. At the end of the second and third trials, egg samples collected from experimental groups were hard boiled in water. The levels of zinc, manganese, copper and iron in the egg yolk were determined. The zinc level of the egg yolk from the control group of second trial was higher (23.5 mg/kg) than those of the unsupplemented group (13.6 mg/kg).