Effect of dietary canthaxanthin and iodine on the production performance and egg quality of laying hens

Abstract

In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effect of canthaxanthin (CX) and iodine (I) on the production of laying hens, on counteracting debilitation of the vitelline membrane, and on inhibiting Salmonella growth in eggs stored at 30°C. Three hundred hens were reared in cages. Birds were divided into six feeding groups (10 hens × 5 repetitions) that were administered 0, 3 or 6 ppm of CX and 1 or 10 ppm of I with their diets. Laying rate, egg weights, and feed conversion ratios were controlled. The quality of fresh eggs was assessed in wks 25-26, 48-50 and 62-63 of hens lives. An additional batch of eggs was incubated at the temperature of 30°C, and egg quality changes were monitored on days 3, 6 and 9 of storage. Additionally, eggs collected from four experimental groups of hens whose diets had been iodated with 1 or 10 ppm of I and supplemented with 0 or 6 ppm of CX were infected under laboratory conditions with Salmonella, and incubated for 5 and 10 d. The laying rate, egg weights, and feed conversion ratio were significantly improved. Dietary inclusion of CX contributed to a higher resistance of the vitelline membrane of egg yolks, but only for fresh eggs. Vitelline membrane degradation during egg storage at 30°C was significantly counteracted by dietary inclusion of I at a dose of 10 ppm. The same I dose resulted in the complete inhibition of Salmonella growth until day 10 of incubation, but exclusively for eggs collected from 40-week-old hens. Dietary supplementation with 10 ppm of I was found to impart high level of resistance to the vitelline membrane against the growth of Salmonella in case of eggs stored at 30°C; therefore, I was found to be more beneficial by ensuring longer preservation than that of CX. However, dietary supplementation with CX was found to increase the resistance of vitelline membrane in fresh eggs.

Egg storage and breeder age impact on egg quality and embryo development

“…These embryos (in first egg of a clutch) stay up to 16 hr longer in the oviduct (Scott & Warren, 1936) than subsequent eggs in a clutch and consequently develop to a more advanced morphological stage. Damaziak et al (2018) recorded also a higher morphological stage of development at 48 hr of incubation with embryos from older hens (70 weeks) compared to embryos from younger hens (49 weeks; 85% vs. 70% of evaluated embryos were between HH13 an HH14, respectively). However, the effect of the breeder age on embryonic morphological stage disappeared after 72 hr of incubation.…”

“…At hatch, an increase of the breeder age was associated with a decrease of the hatchling quality, based on the Tona score (Koppenol et al, 2015;Tona et al, 2004), an increase of the percentage of culled chickens (from 0.85% to 1.8%, for 33 and 62 weeks breeder age, respectively; Ipek & Sozcu, 2015) and an increase of the hatchling weight (Damaziak et al, 2018;Koppenol et al, 2015;Tona et al, 2004;Ulmer-Franco et al, 2010). Iqbal, Khan, Mukhtar, Ahmed, and Pasha (2016) noted an increase of both hatchling weight (+3.97 and +0.84 g) and hatchling yield (hatchling weight relative to egg weight; −2.36% and −0.84%) with the increase of the breeder age (45 and 60 weeks compared to 30 weeks of breeder age).…”

Characterization of structure and protein of vitelline membranes of precocial (ring-necked pheasant, gray partridge) and superaltricial (cockatiel parrot, domestic pigeon) birds

“…The basic mechanism of aging involves the penetration of water through the VM from the egg white to the yolk due to the loss of CO 2 in the shell pores and the increase in the pH of the egg white (from 7.6 to 9.7). As a result, the ovomucin-lysozyme complex is disintegrated, and the VM is loosened and becomes more permeable to pathogens [20,31]. Among the studied species, this threat is incomparably greater for pheasants and partridge eggs.…”

Effects of Chitosan Coating Structure and Changes during Storage on Their Egg Preservation Performance

“…Nowadays, they have also been considered as ideal vehicles of bioactive components to enhance human nutrition [2]. Although the eggshells have been regarded as natural protective barriers of eggs, quantities of tiny pores presenting on the eggshells for gas exchange lead to the moisture and CO 2 loss of eggs, as well as the penetration of microbial, which would then cause the quality deterioration of eggs [3,4]. Moreover, eggshells are too fragile to retain their integrity during transport.…”