309 Effects of dietary supplying icariin on the bone metabolism and the laying performance in caged laying hens

Abstract

Abstract Icariin, a flavonol glycoside, is one of major active ingredients of the traditional Chinese medicine Herba epimedii. Icariin has been reported to successfully treat the osteoporosis of the rat. However, effects of icariin on the osteoporosis in caged laying hens are still unkown. This study present the effects of dietary icariin supplementation on the laying performance, the egg quality and the bone metabolism in caged laying hens. A total of 216 Lohmann pink-shell laying hens of 54-week-old from a commercial farm in the Hubei province of China were randomly assigned to 3 treatment groups with 6 replications per group and 12 birds per replication. The control group was fed a corn-soybean meal basal diet, and the experimental groups were fed basal diets supplemented with 500 and 2000 mg/kg icariin for 90 d. Layer performance responses, egg quality parameters, the bone mineral density and serum biochemical indicators were measured at the end of the experiment. Results showed that feed/egg ratio decreased as the supplied icariin level increased. The laying rate and the average egg weight were increased compared to the control group. However, no significant effect was observed on the egg quality. The bone mineral density of the tibia was measured by the dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, indicating that icariin can increase the bone mineral density. Serum biochemical analysis showed that icariin decreased the level of alkaline phosphatase, tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase, osteocalcin and calcitonin. Our observations provided evidences that dietary supplementation of icariin increased the bone mineral density and improved the laying performance, and icariin can be used for the prevention of the osteoporosis in caged laying hens.