Effect Of Dietary Supplementation Of Panax Ginseng Leaf Extract On Production Performance And Egg Quality Of Hens At The Beginning Of Their Laying Period

A study was conducted to determine the effect of ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer) leaf on egg production and egg quality characteristics of hens at the beginning of their laying period. Eighty commercial Atak-S brown layers at the age of 20 weeks were randomly allocated to one of four treatments with four replicates of five hens per treatment in a completely randomized design. The birds were fed standard layer diets control (0 mg/kg), 50 mg/kg, 100 mg/kg or 150 mg/kg Panax ginseng leaf extract (PGLE) for 12 weeks period. Laying performance was assessed by recording egg production, egg weight daily; feed intake and feed efficiency weekly and egg quality biweekly. Statistical analysis of the research results proved influence of PGLE supplementation on the weight of eggs (P <0.05), but they did not have any influence on body weight, feed intake and feed efficiency (P >0.05). Overall, there were no differences among groups in external egg quality parameters (P >0.05), while significant increases were observed in albumen and yolk index of internal egg quality. The trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC), ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and total phenolics concentration of PGLE were 606.3 +/- 0.948 mmol trolox/kg, 15.99 +/- 0.232 mmol TEAC/kg and 1.11 +/- 0.02 g gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/kg, respectively. As a result of research, it could be considered that up to 150 mg PGLE/kg in a laying hen's diet did not change the egg production performance of layers and there is only a positive effect on egg weight and eggshell redness increase which could contribute to profitability.