Department of Animal Science, College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia.
School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences, Brackenhurst Campus, Nottingham Trent University, Southwell, Nottinghamshire, UK.
Vet Med Sci. 2025 Jan;11(1):e70146. doi: 10.1002/vms3.70146.
The use of commercially extracted phytogenic compounds to maintain poultry health and productivity in the absence of in-feed antibiotics is prohibitively costly in developing countries.
The goal of the study is to determine the effect of dietary supplementation with Thymus schimperi leaf meal (TLM) on production performance, egg quality and haemato-biochemical parameters of Bovan brown layers.
A total of 96 laying hens at 25 weeks of age were randomly assigned to 4 treatments with 6 replications each. The treatments include the control (standard commercial laying diet), TLM1.5 (control + 1.5% TLM), TLM2.5 (control + 2.5% TLM) and TLM3.5 (control + 3.5% TLM). Egg production, feed intake and feed conversion ratio were recorded for each replicate. Two eggs per replication were used to measure internal and external egg quality traits on a monthly basis. At the end of the trial, blood samples were collected from 2 birds/replicate for the determination of albumin, uric acid, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, luteinizing hormone, prolactin and progesterone.
All blood parameters were within the normal ranges of the breed. Egg production, feed conversion ratio, internal egg quality traits and external egg quality traits of hens fed diets containing 2.5% TLM were significantly higher than the control. Furthermore, diets containing 2.5% TLM led to a significantly reduced feed conversion ratio compared to all other dietary treatments.
In conclusion, 2.5% TML is recommended to improve egg production and egg quality without adverse effect on hen health.
在发展中国家，由于商业提取的植物源化合物在没有饲料抗生素的情况下用于维持家禽健康和生产力的成本过高，因此禁止使用。
本研究的目的是确定日粮中添加百里香叶粉（TLM）对博万褐壳蛋鸡生产性能、蛋品质和血液生化参数的影响。
将 96 只 25 周龄的产蛋鸡随机分为 4 个处理组，每组 6 个重复。处理包括对照组（标准商业产蛋日粮）、TLM1.5（对照组+1.5% TLM）、TLM2.5（对照组+2.5% TLM）和 TLM3.5（对照组+3.5% TLM）。记录每个重复的产蛋量、采食量和饲料转化率。每月每个重复取 2 枚鸡蛋测量内部和外部蛋品质性状。试验结束时，从每只鸟中采集 2 只血样/重复，用于测定白蛋白、尿酸、天门冬氨酸氨基转移酶、丙氨酸氨基转移酶、碱性磷酸酶、促黄体生成素、催乳素和孕酮。
所有血液参数均在该品种的正常范围内。产蛋量、饲料转化率、含有 2.5% TLM 的日粮的内部蛋品质性状和外部蛋品质性状均显著高于对照组。此外，与所有其他日粮处理相比，含有 2.5% TLM 的日粮显著降低了饲料转化率。
总之，建议添加 2.5% TLM 以提高产蛋量和蛋品质，而不会对母鸡健康产生不利影响。
