Effect of Dietary Multi-Strain Probiotic Supplementation on Egg Quality in Laying Hens

This work was designed to investigate whether inclusions of probiotic to drinking water during laying period improves egg quality. Total 100 Lohman brown classic hens were divided to 4 groups: control (n=25) birds were fed a diet without additive), other treatment birds were fed with diets containing probiotic preparation in liquid form at of 8.5 ml (n=25), 10 ml (n=25) and 11.5 ml (n=25) per 20 l of drinking water during laying period. Active ingredients of additive were Lactococcus lactis 6.0x109 CFU/g, Lactobacillus casei 6.0x109 CFU/g, Lactobacillus plantarum 6.0x109 CFU/g, Carnobacterium divergens 6.0x109 CFU/g and Saccharomyces cerevisiae 6.0x107 CFU/g. A sample of 60 eggs from each group was collected randomly to determine egg quality every 30 days. There were significant effect of probiotic addition on egg weight, albumen index, Haugh units, yolk weigh, yolk % and yolk colour (P<0.05). Eggshell quality for hens supplemented with probiotic was not different but was greater than for control hens (P>0.05). Supplementation of probiotic during the laying period decreased albumen % (P<0.05). We can conclude that laying hens with higher doses of probiotics in drinking water achieved a higher effect in egg quality.