VARYING LEVELS OF DIETARY GARLIC (Allium sativum) POWDER MEAL ON EXTERNAL EGG QUALITY CHARACTERISTICS OF LAYING BIRDS

Abstract

This study examined the effects of garlic powder meal on the external quality of egg of Bovan Nera and ISA Brown. A total of 240 pullets (120 Bovan Nera and 120 ISA Brown) of 20 weeks old, were used in the experiment. The laying birds were randomly assigned to one of five dietary treatments: T1 (control, 0.00% garlic powder), T2 (0.75% garlic powder), T3 (1.5% garlic powder), T4 (2.25% garlic powder), and T5 (3.00% garlic powder). Each treatment was replicated four times with six birds per replicate. The study employed a Completely Randomized Design (RCBD), with five garlic inclusion levels as treatments, each replicate had eight birds, replicated six times and a total of forty-eight birds per treatment. Birds were raised in a deep litter cage and each pullet in each group were fed layers’ mash daily and supply of water ad libitum for 16 weeks (April – July, 2020). Eggs were collected daily and recorded for each strain pullets. Two eggs were selected at random from each replicate, making a total of 40 eggs for both strains per week and were used for external egg assessment. The external egg quality characteristics (egg weight, egg volume and shell weight) were significantly (P<0.05) influenced by dietary treatments. Bovan Nera pullets on dietary treatments T2 (0.75%) garlic inclusion were higher in egg weight, egg volume, egg width and egg length. The effect of garlic powder on external egg quality parameters showed that laying pullets fed dietary garlic powder T2 (0.75%) had the highest external egg quality such as egg