Research Article | Poultry Science

Egg Quality Parameters and Production Performance of Laying Hens Supplemented with Dried Dill Powder (Anethum graveolens)

Agricultural Engineering Science College, Salahaddin University-Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq.

Abstract

The study was carried out at the research unit in Al-Shemal Company for Poultry Projects in Qushtapa district, Erbil, Kurdistan Region, during February to June 2020 for a total period 17 weeks, The purpose of the study was to indicate the ability of adding dill to the diet for enriching egg yolk with some vitamins, minerals and also reducing cholesterol level, 180 ISA Brown layers at 27 weeks were used . The hens were distributed randomly into six treatment, each group comprises of 3 replicates with 10 layers in each replicate different levels of dietary dill (Anethum graveole (0.0, 0.20, 0.40, 0.60, 0.80 and 1.00%) were used as an additive to a basal diet. The results showed that dietary dill additives significantly improved the hen-day (H.D) % of egg production, egg mass, FCR, shell strength, yolk weight and Haugh unit. Meanwhile dill significantly increased vitamins A, D and E by 44.61 %, 14.67 % and 8.73 %, respectively. Additionally, significant increase in the ratio of folic acid and zinc by 14.01 %, and 7.04 %, were recorded respectively. Moreover, adding dillhad significantly decreased cholesterol levels in egg yolks and total lipids by 9.53% and21.90% respectively, In conclusion, supplementing layers’ dietary dillhad improved egg production ,So, such eggs can be used as functional eggs for different health conditions which exposed to cardiovascular diseases, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, etc

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