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Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni is a shrub with leaves that have a high concentration of carotenoids such as lutein and zeaxanthin. Egg yolks are a bioavailable source of lutein and zeaxanthin. The consumption of these carotenoids has been linked with improved human health. To investigate the impact of dried stevia leaves at 0%, 1% and 3% on the quality variables, the chemical composition and antioxidant content of eggs, the experiment involved 90 Hy-Line Brown laying hens, housed in 30 enriched layer cages, in groups of three from 22 to 26 weeks of age. The impact on the internal qualities of stored eggs was also examined. Yolks from hens fed stevia had an enriched color compared with the controls. At the end of the experiment, the whole egg, without shell, of birds fed 2% stevia had a higher total carotenoid content (p < 0.001) compared with birds fed 1% and 0% stevia, i.e., 5.16 (µg/g), 4.23 (µg/g) and 2.96 (µg/g), respectively. Storage reduced albumen height and increased albumen pH (p < 0.001). Stevia supplementation did not interact (p > 0.05) with storage time among the egg quality variables. Consuming eggs from hens fed stevia may increase carotenoids in human diet.

Wheat distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) are being used increasingly 16 in the poultry feed industry but their nutritional value is variable. The aim of this experiment 17 was to examine the effect of batch to batch variation of wheat DDGS produced by the same 18 manufacturer on the growth performance, dietary N corrected apparent metabolizable energy 19 (AMEn), energy conversion ratio (ECR), total tract dry matter retention (DMR), nitrogen 20 retention (NR) and fat digestibility (FD) coefficients when fed to broilers in complete diets 21 with and without enzyme supplementation. Six UK wheat DDGS samples, produced by a 22 single manufacturer, were used in a broiler experiment. Six diets containing 150 g/kg of each 23 selected wheat DDGS sample were mixed. Each diet was then split into two batches and one 24 of them was supplemented with commercial enzyme preparation, providing 1220 units 25 xylanase and 152 units of β-glucanase /kg diet, resulting in 12 experimental diets. Each diet 26 was fed ad libitum to five pens of two male Ross 308 broilers from 7 to 21 d old. Enzyme 27 supplementation improved dietary AMEn, DMR, NR (P < 0.001) and FD (P < 0.05) 28 compared to non-supplemented diets. There was DDGS sample by enzyme interaction (P < 29 0.05) on daily weight gain and ECR. The results suggest that the variability in AMEn of 30 DDGS samples produced from a single manufacturer is greater than expected compared to 31 the variability of whole wheat samples but substantially lower than expected from wheat 32 DDGS samples from different EU manufacturers. This experiment has shown that the 33 variation in feeding value of wheat DDGS may be explained by the variability in 34 polysaccharide contents. 35

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