Effect of whole egg powder on growth performance, blood cell counts, nutrient digestibility, relative organ weights, and meat quality in broiler chickens

Abstract

A 5-week experiment using 660 male hatchling ROSS 308 broilers was conducted to investigate the effect of whole egg powder (EP) on the growth performance, blood cell counts, nutrient digestibility, relative organ weights, and meat quality in broiler chickens. Broilers were randomly allotted to four dietary treatments consisting of a typical basal diet and that diet with 1%, 2% or 3% EP substituted, isocalorically and isonitrogenously. During d 1–25, and d 1–35, BWG was linearly enhanced in broilers fed EP (P=0.04). Between d 1 and 25, and for the overall period to d 35, FCR was linearly increased (P=0.01) by adding EP. No significant effect of EP was observed on apparent digestibility of dry matter or nitrogen among treatments but energy digestibility was linearly enhanced by inclusion of EP (P=0.04).The white blood cell count was linearly higher (P=0.04) in birds fed with EP but there were no differences in red blood cells or percent lymphocytes. The drip loss of breast meat after 24h, 48h, and 72h of refrigerated storage was linearly reduced 50–60% by feeding EP (P=0.01). In conclusion, inclusion of up to 3% whole egg powder in diets of broilers was shown to improve growth performance to d 35, energy digestibility and decreased drip loss of breast meat.