EGG QUALITY TRAITS AND PERFORMANCE OF LAYERS IN DIETS SUPPLEMENTED WITH GRADED LEVELS OF ACTIVATED CHARCOAL

The study was conducted to determine the effect of graded levels of activated charcoal in the diets of laying hens on nutrient composition, performance response, internal and external egg qualities. A total of 120 Hyline hens, 44-week-old with mean body weight of 2060.70 g and egg production level of 88.92% were randomly allotted into five treatment groups, with three replicates per treatment and 8 hens per replicate. Hens were fed ad libitum on a basal diet supplemented with activated charcoal at 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2% levels to give treatments T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5, for 42 days. Supplementation of basal diet of laying hens with 0, 0.50, 1.00, 1.50 and 2.00% activated charcoal produced significant (P < 0.05) variation in dietary crude protein, crude fat, ash, calcium, phosphorus and salt, while crude fiber, nitrogen free extract and metabolisable energy did not differ significantly (P > 0.05) There was no significant (P > 0.05) nutritional advantage of feeding activated charcoal as a dietary supplement to laying hens at up to 2% on their performance response. Activated charcoal supplementation significantly (P < 0.05) improved egg weight, egg width and shell weight (external egg indices) at 2% level, and also improved P < 0.05) yolk height, albumen weight and yolk colour (internal egg quality characteristics) at 2% level. The result of the study showed that supplementation of the basal diet of laying hens with activated charcoal can be used at 2% level for enhancement of egg weight, egg width, shell weight, yolk height, albumen weight and yolk colour.