Effect of Lagenaria breviflora R. extract and two housing systems on egg qualities and production indices of laying birds

Abstract

An on-station study was conducted to evaluate the effect of oral administration of Lagenaria breviflora R. extract on egg qualities and production indices of laying birds under two housing systems. A total of 126 20-week old Yaffa brown pullets with initial body weight of 1554.2 ± 17.6 g were used for the experiment. Birds were administered extract of L. breviflora whole fruit at three levels: 0 (conventional medication/control), 200 g and 300 g fresh weight per 4 L of water at 1-day intervals under two housing systems: deep litter (DL) and deep litter with run (DLR) in a 3 x 2 factorial layout in a completely randomised design with each three replicates of seven birds for each treatment. At 5 weeks in lay, birds administered 200 g and 300 g, respectively had similar (P > 0.05) yolk diameters (37.38 and 37.10 mm) and yolk heights (1.43 and 1.49 cm). Birds on 300 g had least shell weight (4.83 g) and highest yolk colour (5.75) at 10 weeks in lay (P ≤ 0.05). The interaction showed the highest yolk colour (6.00) in birds administered 300 g on DLR at 10 weeks in lay (P ≤ 0.05). At 15 weeks the highest yolk colour (6.00) and albumen percentage (68.98%) were recorded in birds administered 300 g in the DLR housing system, but these were not different from the birds administered 300 g in the DL housing system (P > 0.05). A steeper slope was obtained in hen-day production curve of birds administered 300 g: birds on DLR recorded higher (P > 0.05) hen-day production of 65.17% compared to 63.13% in DL. The hen-day production curve was highest in birds administered 300 g on DLR compared to other groups. The study concluded that Yaffa brown can be raised on a DLR housing system and administered 300 g L. breviflora extract for better egg qualities and hen-day production with no negative impact (stress) on health of birds.