Dietary Inclusion of Probiotics, Prebiotics and Synbiotic and Evaluating Performance of Laying Hens

Problem Statement: This study was conduct to compare effects of various commercial feed additives on performance of laying hens. Approach: To evaluate effects of dietary inclusion of feed additives (Yeasturer, A-Max, Thepax, Fermacto and Biomin) on performance of laying hens, 216 Lohmann LSL-Lite hens were divided in 36 cages (n = 6). Approach Hens in 6 cages (replicates) were assigned to feed on one of the 6 iso-caloric and iso-nitrogenous experimental diets (ME = 2720 Kcal Kg^-1 and CP = 145 g kg^-1) including control and diets with 0.5 g kg^-1 of feed additives. Collected data of Feed Intake (FI), Egg Production (EP), Egg Weight (EW), Egg Mass (EM) and calculated Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) during 6-week trial period was analyzed based on completely randomized design using GLM procedure of SAS. Results and Conclusions: Dietary additive inclusion significantly affected on EW on 1-3 and 3-6 weeks. Feed additive did not have significant effect on EP, FCR, FI and EM. There was no significant difference in EP, EM, FI and FCR among the experimental groups. Hens received Yeasturer or A-Max showed improved EW compared to hens fed the control diet during weeks 1-3. Hens fed diets included additives showed improved egg shell weight and thickness compared to hens fed the control diet. There was no significant effect of dietary treatment on blood levels of cholesterol, TG and HDL. Adding Thepax or Biomin to diet significantly reduced blood levels of LDL compared to hens fed the other experimental diets. There was no significant effect of dietary treatment on diacritical counts of white blood cells. Recommendations: According to the results of the present study, probiotic Yesture and A-Max can be included in laying hens diets to improve EM. In addition, the commercial feed additives (Yeasturer, A-Max, Thepax, Fermacto and Biomin) used in this study had beneficial effects on egg shell quality characteristics in terms of shell weight and thickness and to decrease egg abnormalities due to poor shell, these feed additives could be recommendable.