EFFECT OF SOME ANTIOXIADNTS AND METHYL- DONORS ON THE PRODUCTIVE AND REPRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE OF TURKEY HENS | ||||
Journal of Animal and Poultry Production | ||||
Article 2, Volume 3, Issue 11, November 2012, Page 467-483 PDF (475.05 K) | ||||
Document Type: Original Article | ||||
DOI: 10.21608/jappmu.2012.83303 | ||||
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Authors | ||||
A. H. M. Raya1; F. S. A. Ismail1; M. Y. Mostafa2; M. A. L. Gorgy2 | ||||
1Poultry Production Dept., Fac. Agric., Mansoura University. | ||||
2Animal Production Res. Inst., Agric. Res. Center, Dokki, Giza, Egypt. | ||||
Abstract | ||||
The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of using some antioxidants and methyl-donors on the productive and reproductive performance of turkeys. This study was carried out at Mehalet Mousa Animal Production Research Station, Kafr El-Sheikh, belonging to the Animal Production Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Ministry of Agriculture, Egypt. A total of 168 Bronze female turkeys, 36 weeks of age were used. The birds were randomly distributed into 8 experimental groups, each treatment consisted of three equal replicates. The birds were individually housed in battery cages. The experimental period lasted 12 weeks (from 36 to 48 weeks of age). The birds were fed a basal yellow corn-soybean meal diet, supplemented with two natural antioxidants, vitamin E (alpha-tocopheryl acetate) at 250 mg/kg diet and vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid) at 200 mg/kg diet in addition to Choline (Choline chloride 60%) at 2.25 g/kg diet one of labile methyl group donors, singly or in combination. The results obtained can be summarized as follows. Dietary supplementation with vitamin E had positive effects on feed conversion, hen-day egg production rate (P≤0.05), egg fertility and total hatchability and length of oviduct of turkey hens as compared to those of the control hens. There were no significant differences among the different dietary treatments in mortality rate, relative weights of egg albumen, egg yolk, yolk index, shell thickness, yolk color, concentrations of blood haemoglobin and serum total protein, hatchability of fertile eggs or in relative weights of carcass traits of turkey hens. It can be concluded that dietary supplementation with vitamin E at 250 mg/kg diet can induce beneficial effects on productive productive and reproductive performance of turkey hens. | ||||
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