Effects of supplementation of different levels of coarse fenugreek seeds in the diet of White Leghorn hens on egg production and quality

The study aimed to evaluate the effects of supplementing coarsely ground fenugreek seed (CGFS) on dry matter intake, body weight gain, hen day egg production, egg weight, egg mass, feed conversion efficiency, and egg quality of White Leghorn (WL) chickens at Haramaya University poultry farm. The experiment was conducted for 12 weeks with five supplementation levels, 0 % (T1), 0.5 % (T2), 1 % (T3), 1.5 % (T4), and 2 % (T5), of coarsely ground fenugreek seed. A total of 180 layers with the age of 42 weeks were randomly distributed to five treatments each replicated three times with twelve layers and two cockerels per replicate in a completely randomized design (CRD) and kept on a deep litter system. Dry matter intake and egg production of T1 were significantly (p < 0.001) higher than other inclusion levels. Feed conversion efficiencies of birds fed ration T3, T4, and T5 were significantly (p < 0.01) higher than T2 and T1. The yolk color score was significantly (p < 0.05) higher in T5, T4 and T3 indicating that fenugreek increased the intensity of yellow color. Therefore, supplementation of fenugreek seed leads to lower feed intake of layers and as a result the egg production performance of chickens is decreased.