Effect of Adding Lecithin to Diets on Productive Performance of Laying Hens

Abstract

This study was conducted in the poultry farm of the Department of Animal Production / College of the Agriculture / University of Anbar, during the period from 20/7/2021 to 15/10/2021, with the aim of studying the effect of adding lecithin to the diet on the productive performance of laying hens. 60 layer hens of the Lohmann Brown breed, aged 43 weeks were used in this experiment. The layer hens were distributed randomly into five treatments with four replicates per treatment (3 hens/repeat). Birds fed balanced diets contain 5 levels of lecithin as below: T1 (control groups ), T2, T3, T4 and T5 adding 0.25, 0.50, 0.75 and 1.0% of lecithin respectively to the basic diet. The results showed the superiority of the additional treatments in the productive traits during most of the production periods, As all the additional treatments during the most stages of production. All additive treatments showed superiority significantly during the third productive period, When calculating the general average, treatments T2 and T5 were significantly superior to the control treatment in the percentage of egg production (Hen Day Production%). Also, T5 showed superiority in the average egg weight during the second and third periods, and in the general average.T5 and T4 showed an increase in the egg mass-produced during the second period and three periods and with the general average. The results showed that there were significant differences between the different treatments in the rates of feed consumption during all stages of production. Also, the additive treatmentT5 showed the best feed conversion ratio during the second and third production periods and in the general average.