Abstract:
n this experiment, a total of 128 Hy-line W
36
hens at 63 weeks of age were used. The
hens were put at random into 4 treatment groups (4
replicates and 32 hens per treatment)
and were fed four different diets: three diets with
different levels of Spirulina (1.5, 2.0 and
2.5%) and one control group based on wheat and soyb
ean meal. All birds were housed in
commercial cages, had ad libitum access to water, a
nd were fed 100 g bird
-1
per day. Egg
production, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, egg
weight, yolk index, Haugh unit, shell
thickness, shell weight, specific gravity, egg yolk
cholesterol, and yolk color were
compared with the control group. Egg yolk color was
measured by the BASF
Ovo-color
fan. Our results indicated that these traits did no
t show any significant changes with the
Spirulina addition (P> 0.05), while a significant i
ncrease in egg yolk color was observed in
the treatments that received the Spirulina (P< 0.00
01). Yolk color scores of the control
group and different levels of Spirulina (1.5, 2.0 a
nd 2.5%) were 1.5, 10.5, 11.4 and 11.6 in
BASF color fan, respectively. There were not signif
icant differences between the
treatments with 2.0 and 2.5% of Spirulina. In concl
usion,
this study can suggest use of
2.0~2.5% of Spirulina in diet to produce an aesthet
ically pleasing yolk color.
