Abstract
A total of 240 white Shaver laying hens from 22 to 34 weeks of age were assigned to 3 treatments and 5 replications. The treatments included: i) Conventional (hens were kept in experimental building without access to outdoor area and fed with the conventional diet), ii) Semi-organic (hens were kept in experimental building with access to outdoor area and fed with the organic diet plus amino acids and vitamin-minerals supplement), and iii) Organic (hens were kept in experimental building with access to outdoor and fed with the organic diet). The results showed statistically significant differences in the feed intake, egg production, egg mass, egg weight, and change body weight(g) means among the treatments (p < 0.05). The hens kept in the organic treatment had fecal highest contain of oocytes coccidia (p < 0.05). The yolk color index and shell strength in the organic treatment significantly increased in comparison with that of other treatments (p < 0.05). The highest HDL was in the semi-organic and organic treatments (p < 0.05). The lowest egg yolk cholesterol concentration was found in hens kept in the semi-organic and organic treatments (p < 0.05). It is concluded that organic production system is useful for improving egg quality.
Highlights
In recent decades, with increasing public concern for poultry welfare, poultry friendly rearing systems are gaining popularity in Europe and many countries (Philippe et al, 2020; Geng et al, 2020)
Differences between means were determined using least square difference (LSD) test contrasts among the means, according to the following model: Yij = μ + Ti + Eij where: Y denotes the dependent variable, μ denotes the mean, T is the treatment effect, and Eij is random residual error term
Data analysis results show that the effect of experimental treatments on egg production(%) and feed conversion, egg mass, egg weight (g), and feed intake (g bird-1 day-1) in the treatments during the whole period of the experiment (Table 2) (p < 0.05)
Summary
With increasing public concern for poultry welfare, poultry friendly rearing systems are gaining popularity in Europe and many countries (Philippe et al, 2020; Geng et al, 2020). Hens fed conventional diets that provide methionine at suboptimal levels have been shown to be predisposed to health, welfare, and production-related problems (Friedman, Bar-Shira, & Sklan, 2003; Kidd Ferket, & Garlich, 1997; Klasing, 2006). It can, be postulated that poultry feed formulations that meet organic certification standards have the potential to adversely affect hen health and welfare, where high-output genotypes are used. The primary objective of this experiment is to investigate the conventional, organic, and semi-organic conditions on performance and egg quality parameters and investigate the possibility of improved cholesterol and egg yolks color by organic and semiorganic conditions to shaver laying hen
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