Productive performance, egg quality, hematological parameters and serum chemistry of laying hens fed diets supplemented with certain fat-soluble vitamins, individually or combined, during summer season.

Abstract

This present study aimed to determine the efficacy of supplementing layer diets with vitamin A (0, 8,000 and 16,000 IU/kg diet) and vitamin E (0, 250 and 500 mg/kg diet) either individually or in combination on egg production and quality, and blood hematology and chemistry of birds reared under summer conditions. A total of 135 Bovans Brown laying hens were distributed to 9 treatment groups with 5 replicates of 3 hens/pen in a 3 × 3 factorial design. A significant improvement in feed conversion ratio (FCR) was observed as supplementary vitamin A or E increased (P ≤ 0.01). Hens fed diets supplemented with 16,000 IU vitamin A plus 500 mg vitamin E/kg diet had the best FCR among all groups. Egg quality traits were not significantly affected by the interaction of vitamin A and vitamin E levels. There was a significant increase in monocytes (P ≤ 0.01) and a decrease in basophils counts (P ≤ 0.05) in response to vitamin E. Significant decreases were observed in packed cell volume (PCV), thyroxine (T4), alanine transferase (ALT), albumin, total cholesterol and total lipids ( (P ≤ 0.05 or P ≤ 0.01) P ≤ 0.01) , and increases were observed in serum concentrations of globulin (P ≤ 0.05) and calcium (P ≤ 0.01) due to vitamin A. The combination of 0 IU vitamin A and 500 mg vitamin E/kg diet had the highest values of PCV (40.09%) and hemoglobin (Hb) (10.33 mg/100 mL) among all groups. Vitamin E raised serum values of total protein, total cholesterol and total lipids (P ≤ 0.05 or P ≤ 0.01). Feed intake, FCR, PCV, Hb, lymphocytes, monocytes, eosinophils, T4, ALT and total protein were significantly affected by the interaction of vitamins A and E (P ≤ 0.05 or P ≤ 0.01). The interaction of vitamins A and E was only significant with respect to serum total protein (P ≤ 0.05). It can be concluded that layer diets supplemented with vitamins A and E had good results in alleviating the harmful impacts of high ambient temperature. The combination of 16,000 IU vitamin A and 500 mg vitamin E per kilogram diet is preferable for obtaining better production of laying hens reared under hot summer conditions.