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Effects of Black pepper, Turmeric, and Fennel on Essential and Non-essential Chemical Contents of Egg
Authors: Lopamudra Samantaray
Number of views: 39
The use of essential oils (EOs) in animal feeding has gained attention as a potential antibiotic growth promoter
replacement over the past two decades. The current study aimed to determine the impact of three feed
additives, namely black pepper, turmeric, and fennel, on the productivity of laying hens, the chemical
composition, and macro- and microelement content in layer eggs. A total of 280 chicks aged 75 days were
randomly divided into 7 treatments (5 replicates of 8 chicks). One treatment group was provided as the
unsupplemented control. The other six treatment groups, namely D0 (basal diet [BD] control), D1 (BD + 1%
of black pepper), D2 (BD + 1% of turmeric), D3 (BD + 1% of fennel), D4 (BD + 0.5% of black pepper + 0.5%
of turmeric), D5 (BD + 0.5% of black pepper + 0.5% of fennel), D6 (BD + 0.5% of turmeric + 0.5% of fennel)
were supplemented with varying levels of phytobiotics. The result of the study indicated that the egg weight,
Hen-day-production (HDP), egg quality, and haugh unit significantly improved with a combined
supplementation of phytobiotics (D4, D5, and D6 diets) when compared with the control. However, there were
no significant differences in the chemical composition of eggs. The X-ray fluorescence spectrometer analysis
of eggs revealed the presence of 17 significant elements, including phosphorous, sulfur, chlorine, potassium,
calcium, manganese, iron, copper, zinc, and bromine. The study findings showed that the combined
supplementation of phytobiotics lowered K and Cl, whereas Zn, Ca, S, and Cu contents positively increased in
hen eggs by including phytobiotic in the diet. In conclusion, the EOs of phytobiotics as dietary
supplementation at 1% and 0.5% could improve the HDP, egg weight, and egg mass, including nutrient
elements in the egg.