OmegaBalance feed additive in compound feeds for laying hens

In the conditions of the vivarium of the VNITIP Scientific Research Center, a study was conducted on laying hens of the Hysex White industrial herd during the 30-day productive period, starting from the age of 226 days. The bird was kept in individual cages, in a cage battery, with 30 heads in each group and received dry, complete, loose compound feed, with nutritional value according to VNITIP standards, 2021. During the experiment, the possibility of correcting the fatty acid composition of products (increasing the total content of polyunsaturated fatty acids of the w3 series in egg laying hens with a diet with a suboptimal value of omega factor w6/w3) was studied by enriching the compound feeds of the experimental group with the drug “Omegabalance”. This feed additive is a stable 50 % aqueous emulsion of linseed oil, fat-soluble vitamins and antioxidants; the rate of introduction of the drug into feed is 20 ml/kg. It was found that the enrichment of wheat-sunflower type feed with Omega Balance, a source of polyunsaturated fatty acids, improved the egg productivity of experimental laying hens: the intensity of egg production increased by 1.29 % while reducing feed costs by 10 pcs. eggs and 1 kg of egg mass, compared with 1.49 % and 4.82 %, respectively, compared with the control group. The mass yield of eggs per laying hen increased by 5.03 % compared to the control due to a significant increase in egg weight by 3.51 %. In terms of eggshell thickness, the experimental bird had a 6.1 % advantage over its control counterparts. In the control and experimental groups, by the age of 256 days, there was a deterioration in the index of elastic deformation of eggs by 25.1 and 26.4 microns against the standard value of -23 microns, as well as a slight decrease in the index of shell strength. It was shown that an improvement in the fatty acid composition of chicken eggs when fortified with the Omegabalance preparation in an amount of 20 ml/kg of feed was noted after two weeks of feeding the experimental diet. The value of w6/w3 (the ratio of concentrations of w6- and w3-series fatty acids) in the eggs of the experimental group was 6.8 versus 13.5 in the control.