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Asian Journal of Applied Sciences (ISSN: 2321 – 0893)
Volume 07 – Issue 04, August 2019
Asian Online Journals (www.ajouronline.com) 398
Egg Traits and Productive Performance of Isa-Brown Laying
Hens Fed Garlic Supplemented Diets
*Fajemilehin Samuel Oladipo Kolawole and Alamuoye Oluwatoyin Folake
Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Ekiti State University
Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria
*Corresponding author's email: dipofajemilehin [AT] yahoo.com
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
ABSTRACT---- The effect of garlic supplementation on egg traits and productive performance of laying chickens
have been widely studied but little information is available on the basis of strains while the issue of level of inclusion
is an ongoing debate. This study investigated the effect of garlic supplementation on the productive performance and
egg traits of Isa-brown, a specific strain of laying hen. Forty eight Isa Brown layers were randomly selected and
allocated to four dietary treatments; each treatment had twelve layers consisting of three in a cage compartment and
in four replicates. The treatments consisted a control, 0.5, 1 and 2 % garlic powder supplemented diets and fed to the
layers for twelve weeks. Data were collected on growth parameters, egg traits and cholesterol contents. The dietary
treatments significantly (p<0.05) reduced the body weight, feed intake, egg weight and hen-day egg production to the
least values at the 2 % level of garlic powder inclusion but the feed efficiency was not affected. Garlic
supplementation significantly (p<0.05) increased the albumen index, shell index, shell weight, Haugh unit and yolk
cholesterol. The 1% garlic inclusion level gave the highest albumen index and Haugh unit while the highest shell
index at 2 % garlic supplementation was due to significant (p<0.05) reduction in shell weight. Garlic significantly
(p<0.05) decreased the egg yolk cholesterol but did not affect the yolk index and the yolk weight. Garlic
supplementation in Isa Brown layers’ diet should not exceed 1 % inclusion in order to avoid reduced productive
performance and egg quality.
Keywords--- Isa-Brown laying hens, garlic supplementation, productive performance, egg traits
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
1. INTRODUCTION
Hen egg production totaled 636,000 metric tons valued at $527.49 million in Nigeria, ranking her 19th in the world
and the top producer in Africa in 2011 [1]. The common breeds of laying chickens in Nigeria include the Bovans Black,
Dekalb-Amberlink and the Isa Brown produced by Institut de Sélection Animale (ISA) [2]. Isa Brown is the most popular
and most widely used in egg-preneur enterprise because of its low maintenance cost, adaptability to varying climatic
conditions and prolificacy that can reach 300 eggs per hen in the first year of laying [3]. Hens bred to lay eggs in such a
large quantities often suffer from major disease challenges, some of which are zoonotic [4]. In the past, the approach to
meeting the challenges involved the use of antibiotics which are currently facing serious criticism due to drug resistance
by bacteria and the presence of drug residues in eggs. Researches into alternative approaches as panacea have led to the
interest in natural herbs such as garlic (Allium sativum) for inclusion in the diets. Garlic provides flavour and possesses
value-added health characteristics and health-promoting photochemicals. It is a good source of dietary fibre, vitamin C
and folic acid. It contains calcium, iron, low level of sodium with high protein quality and no fat which could be used to
alleviate problems associated with high body and egg cholesterol [5].
The effects of garlic supplemented diets on the performance characteristics of broilers had been widely studied but
with different outcomes. Some of the results showed improved performance in body weight gain and feed conversion
ratio [6-9] and reduced hepatic cholesterol concentration [10-11] while in others there was no influence on the feed
intake and feed conversion ratio at low levels of inclusion but a depression at high levels of inclusion [12-13] due to
increased feed refusal by hens with subsequent reduction in production [14].
Garlic powder inclusion in the diets of 21 week-old SHSY-type brown layers did not significantly affect body weight,
egg production, feed consumption, feed efficiency, egg shell index, egg breaking strength, egg shell thickness, egg
albumen index, egg yolk index, egg Haugh unit, egg yolk weight and serum protein concentration but increased egg
weight and reduced the egg cholesterol concentration [15]. In 50-week old Hy-line white layers, dietary garlic powder
supplementation at 0.5, 1, and 2% did not affect feed consumption, feed efficiency, egg yolk index, egg yolk weight , egg
albumen index, egg shell index, egg Haugh unit and plasma high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol concentrations
but increased egg production while yolk cholesterol concentration, Plasma low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol
concentrations decreased [16]. The supplementation of layers, diets with onion and garlic extracts had a positive effect on
Asian Journal of Applied Sciences (ISSN: 2321 – 0893)
Volume 07 – Issue 04, August 2019
Asian Online Journals (www.ajouronline.com) 399
the production rate in the initial and peak egg-laying period, and significantly determined the aroma and taste of boiled
eggs [17-19].
The consensus has not been reached on the level of inclusion in all these reports and may not be forthcoming as the
studies were conducted in different environments in which genotype, environment and genotype x environment
interactions would affect the results. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the extent at which garlic
powder supplementation in the diets will influence the laying performances and egg traits of Isa-Brown laying hens in
South-western Nigeria.
2. MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study was carried out at the Poultry Unit of the Teaching and Research Farm, Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti,
Nigeria between 15th of March to 15th of June, 2017. Forty eight Isa-Brown layers in 24 weeks of production kept in a 45
x 40 x 38 cm battery cage system equipped with drinkers and feeders in an open sided house with dwarf wall were
selected for the study. Four compartments in a cage were randomly allotted to each of the 4 dietary treatments with each
compartment containing 3 birds as experimental units in four replicates. The garlic cloves were peeled, washed, sliced to
pieces of 3 to 4 mm, sun dried and ground to a mesh size of 160 µm before incorporation into the experimental diets
formulated to meet the minimum nutrient requirements for layers [20] as shown in Table 1.
The proximate compositions of the experimental feeds were determined using standard analytical procedures [21].
The birds were served weighed quantities of feed at 8 a.m. daily. The left over feeds were weighed before serving fresh
feed. Fresh, cool and clean water was supplied liberally and uniformly throughout the day. Data were collected on the
following:
2.1 Performance Parameters
The parameters evaluated are: weight gain; feed intake, egg weight, feed efficiency and hen-day egg production.
i. Weight gain calculated as the difference between the final and initial body weights of the hens;
ii. Feed intake recorded weekly;
iii. Feed efficiency calculated during the 12 weeks of the experimental period in kg of feed kg-1 of egg and
iv. Egg production recorded daily and the percentage hen-day production computed as:
2.2 Egg Trait Measurements
At the end of the experiment, 8 eggs were collected from each treatment to determine the weights of the egg, shell, yolk
and albumen. The egg albumen index, egg yolk index, egg shape index and egg Haugh unit were determined as follows:
2.3 Cholesterol determination
At the end of the experiment, 4 eggs were collected from each replicate per treatment, hard-boiled to separate the yolk
and cooked yolk weights recorded. The cooked yolk was extracted and subsequently analysed for the cholesterol
concentration per yolk in an automatic analyzer (Hitachi 747, Hitachi Co., Tokyo, Japan) by direct enzymatic kits.
2.4 Statistical Analysis
The data obtained were subjected to One Way ANOVA using SPSS for Windows, version 11.5 and Duncan’s multiple
range test [22] was used as means separator where statistical differences of means were obtained.
Asian Journal of Applied Sciences (ISSN: 2321 – 0893)
Volume 07 – Issue 04, August 2019
Asian Online Journals (www.ajouronline.com) 400
3. RESULTS
3.1 Performance characteristics of laying hens fed garlic supplemented diets
Table 2 shows the effects of garlic powder on the performance characteristics of Isa-Brown laying hens. The initial
body weight (BDWs) of the birds were similar (p>0.05) but the treatments had caused significant (p<0.05) weight loss
[body weight at the end (BDEe)] at the end of the experiment. Also, the feed intake (FI), egg weight (EW) and hen-day
egg production (HdEP) were significantly affected (p<0.05) by garlic supplementation with the lowest BDWe, FI, EW
and HdEP were recorded at 2 % while the control, 0.5 and 1 % garlic supplemented diets were similar (p>0.05).
However, the feed efficiency (FE) was not affected (p>0.05) by all levels of garlic powder inclusion in the diets.
3.2 Effects of garlic powder on the egg traits of Isa-brown laying hens
Table 3 shows that garlic supplementation had significant effects (p<0.05) on the albumen index (AI), shell index
(SI), shell weight (SW), Haugh unit (HU) and yolk cholesterol (YC) of Isa Brown laying hens. The albumen index was
highest (p<0.05) at 1 % garlic inclusion level with while the highest shell index (SI) was obtained at 2 % garlic inclusion
level. Garlic inclusion reduced (p<0.05) the shell weight with the highest value of 5.50±0.02 g in the control diet. The
Haugh unit was highest (p<0.05) at 1 and 2 % garlic inclusion and least at 0.5% inclusion level. The egg yolk cholesterol
(YC) decreased (p<0.05) from 19.27±0.5 mg/g in control to 11.20±0.07 mg/g at 2 % garlic inclusion level. However,
garlic supplementation had no effect (p>0.05) on the yolk index and the yolk weight.
4. DISCUSSION
In this study, garlic inclusion caused progressive decline in body weight, feed intake, egg weight and hen-day egg
production in Isa Brown laying hens but did not affect the feed efficiency. The reduced body weight of the hens at the
end of the treatment was probably due to mobilization of nutrients in feed and body metabolites stored for laying rather
than body weight gain. This is expected as egg laying is an energy sapping activity. The final weight of the hens and hen
day production increased up to 1 % of garlic supplementation but were depressed at 2 % garlic inclusion. Earlier reports
indicate significant weight gain and increased egg production without effects on feed intake and efficiency when garlic
powder was included at 1% in hen’s diet [19, 23]. However, the result is not in agreement with reports that body weight
gain, egg weight and egg production were not affected when garlic was included in the diets of laying hens [14, 15, 18,
24]. The implication is that garlic inclusion up to 1% enhances growth rate and egg traits but above the depressing effect
occurs probably because of the anti-nutritional factors present in garlic.
Table 1: Composition of experimental diets (%) for Isa-Brown laying hens
Ingredients
T1
Control diet
T2 (0.5% garlic
addition)
T3 (1% garlic
addition)
T4 (2% garlic
addition)
Maize
Garlic powder
Groundnut cake
Soya bean
Wheat offal
Fishmeal (72%)
Bone meal
Oyster shell
NaCl
Methionine
Lysine
Premix
49.00
0.00
8.00
12.00
18.00
2.00
2.50
7.00
0.25
0.50
0.25
0.50
48.50
0.50
8.00
12.00
18.00
2.00
2.50
7.00
0.25
0.50
0.25
0.50
48.00
1.00
8.00
12.00
18.00
2.00
2.50
7.00
0.25
0.50
0.25
0.50
47.00
2.00
8.00
12.00
18.00
2.00
2.50
7.00
0.25
0.50
0.25
0.50
Total
100.00
100.00
100.00
100.00
Calculated composition
C.P (%)
C.F (%)
ME (MEkcal/kg
17.10
4.20
2757.37
17.08
4.22
2755.38
17.07
4.23
2756.36
17.07
4.22
2753.35
Asian Journal of Applied Sciences (ISSN: 2321 – 0893)
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Asian Online Journals (www.ajouronline.com) 401
Feed efficiency was not affected by garlic inclusion in this study which agrees with the findings on laying hens [25];
in native Desi laying hens [26] and in Babcock B-300 laying strains [27] fed garlic supplemented diets. The difference in
feed intake obtained however contradicts the reports indicating a direct relationship between feed intake and garlic
inclusion in the diets of laying hens [19, 25-27] while the decrease at 2 % garlic inclusion level was probably associated
with the specific odour of garlic [25, 28]. The different results obtained when diets of laying hens were supplemented
with garlic powder probably occurs because properly fed healthy birds housed under clean environment and moderate
stocking density may not respond to a performance- promoting supplement [29].
The albumen index, shell index and Haugh unit obtained in this study agree with earlier worker [25] but disagree with
the findings of another researcher who fed 5 and 10 g garlic kg-1 of feed to laying hens [15]. The Haugh unit, a trait that
determines the quality of the egg was highest at 1% garlic inclusion indicating that the quality of the eggs was best at this
level of inclusion which is in agreement with the findings of earlier researchers [18]. The reduction in eggshell weight
with increased garlic powder supplementation disagrees with the findings that garlic powder supplementation had a
positive effect on the weight of the eggshell [30].
The yolk index and the yolk weight agree with the reports of earlier researchers [15, 25] but disagrees with the
findings of others who obtained a reduction in yolk weight at inclusion levels of 5, 10 and 15 g of garlic kg-1 of feed [31].
The reason for these differences might be due to variations in the levels of garlic powder, differences in strains and/or
variation in the environmental conditions.
The mean egg yolk cholesterol concentration was reduced by garlic supplementation in this study. Compared to the
control diet, there was a 36.64, 38.30 and 36.69 % reduction in egg cholesterol at 0.5, 1 and 2 % garlic supplementations
respectively. The decrease in the yolk cholesterol obtained agrees with the reports of previous researchers who obtained
significant reduction in egg yolk cholesterol [19, 24].
5. CONCLUSION
Garlic supplementation in Isa Brown layers’ diet should not exceed 1 % inclusion in order to avoid reduced productive
performance and egg quality.
Table 2: Effects of garlic powder on the performance of Isa-Brown laying hens
Parameters
T1
Control diet
T2
0.5% garlic addition
T3
1% garlic addition
T4
2% garlic addition
BDWs (g)
BDWe (g)
FI (g day-1 bird-1)
EW (g)
FE (kg feed kg-1 eggs)
HdEP (%)
1,623.0±2.31
1,599.1±3.42a
114.12±0.14a
62.71±0.04a
2.06±0.01
81.43±0.03ab
1,657.2±2.09
1,640.7±2.97a
115.48±0.13a
62.83±0.03a
2.05±0.03
82.63±0.02a
1,625.0±1.98
1,602.4±2.77a
115.81±0.15a
62.50±0.05a
2.07±0.02
83.04±0.04a
1,641.0±2.03
1,403.9±3.30b
112.98±0.13b
61.18±0.04b
2.13±0.042
80.57
ab: Means with a different superscript within a column are significantly different
BDWs = Body weight at the start; BDWe = Body weight at the end; FI = Feed Intake; EW = Egg weight; FE
= Feed efficiency HdEP= Hen-day egg production
Asian Journal of Applied Sciences (ISSN: 2321 – 0893)
Volume 07 – Issue 04, August 2019
Asian Online Journals (www.ajouronline.com) 402
Table 3: Effects of garlic powder on the egg traits of Isa-Brown laying hens
abc:Means with a different superscript within a column are significantly different (p<0.05)
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Garlic supplementation (%)
Parameters
T1
Control diet
T2 (0.5%
garlic addition)
T3 (1%
garlic addition)
T4 (2%
garlic addition)
Albumen index
Yolk index
Shape index
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6.85±0.02b
37.41±0.07
72.31±0.06ab
5.50±0.02a
74.68±0.08bc
16.75±0.05
19.27±0.5a
6.78±0.03b
37.22±0.06
72.43±0.05ab
5.26±0.01b
73.95±0.09c
17.08±0.04
12.21±0.07b
7.27±0.04a
37.28±0.04
71.77±0.06b
5.36±0.03ab
76.81±0.07a
16.81±0.03
11.89±0.05b
7.12±0.02ab
37.75±0.05
72.92±0.08a
5.30±0.01b
76.12±0.07ab
16.48±0.95
11.20±0.07b
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Volume 07 – Issue 04, August 2019
Asian Online Journals (www.ajouronline.com) 403
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