Effects of Different Levels of Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal in Practical Rations of Laying Hens on the Pigmentation of Egg Yolk, Their Influence in the Utilization of Red Xanthophylls (Capsantin and Capsorrubin)

Abstract

INTRODUCTIONOVER the last years, groups of workers such as Marusich et al. (1960), Anjaneylu et al. (1961), Bartov and Bornstein (1966), etc., have carried out a series of experimental trials in order to understand the influence of the xanthophylls of alfalfa on the pigmentation of egg yolk.Nevertheless, all these experiments, or the majority of them, have been predominantly empiric and, among other things, have lacked an adequate method of valuation of colour which would permit comparisons to be established and which would express the colour in terms of its determining factors.In spite of the imperfections of these experiments, the majority of the authors have observed that the pigmenting power of the xanthophylls of alfalfa, or its use by poultry in pigmentation of the yolk is very inferior if compared with the xanthophylls of yellow corn. This observation has been proved experimentally by Retana (1966), from a study .