The use of carotenoid lycopene in the nutrition of laying hens

Abstract

The goal of the trial was to establish the impact of non-refined palm oil with the vegetable antioxidant carotenoid lycopene supplement on morphological indices of the eggs of laying hens. Investigations with the laying hens at the age of 33 and 48 weeks were carried out at the Research Laboratory of Biological Diversity and Technologies of Vilnius Pedagogical University and on the poultry farm JSC "Vievio paukštynas". It was determined that under the influence of non-refined palm oil, which contained 10% of lycopene supplement in the feed of hens, there was an increase in the weight of eggs, the egg yolk and egg white, and the thickness of the eggshell (P<0.05). In addition, due to this supplement, a bigger amount of dry substances both in the egg yolk and egg white (P<0.05) and a higher colour index of the egg yolk (P<0.05) were defined.