Effects of diatery lycopene on laying performance and egg quality and some blod parameters in layer chicken

The present study was conducted to evaluate whether dietary lycopene would affect laying performance and egg quality of Brown layers. Twenty eight weeks old layers were divided into 4 groups of similar mean weight, comprising 18 birds each. The birds were fed standard layer diets containing 0, 100, 200 or 400 ppm lycopene (Lyc-O-Mato® containing 0.8% Lycopene) for 8 weeks period. The birds were housed in individual cages in a complete randomized design. A 16:8 hours light:dark photoperiod was employed. Feed and water were given ad libitum. Laying performance was assessed by recording feed intake, egg weight, egg production daily and egg quality weekly. The results showed that lycopene supplementation did not have significant (P>0.05) effects on feed intake, egg weight, egg mass, feed conversion efficiency, number of cracked eggs, and body weight. However, dietary supplemental lycopene increased yolk color score, shell weight and thickness (P<0.05). The results suggest that providing dietary lycopene, especially 100 ppm, could have a potential to increase egg quality in terms of yolk pigmentation and shell quality. Keywords: Laying hens, lycopene, egg production and quality, blood parameters