<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>This experiment aimed to ascertain whether adding chitosan-oligosaccharides (COS) to the diet will affect Mandarah laying hens’ productivity and reproductive efficiency. At the age of 34 weeks, 120 laying hens and 12 cocks of the Mandarah chicken strain were separated into four groups, each consisting of 30 hens and three cocks. The 1st group served as a control group, receiving only a basic diet. The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th experimental groups received 0.1, 0.2, and 0.5 g/kg of chitosan-oligosaccharides as an addition to the base diet, respectively. According to the findings of this study, the majority of the analyzed attributes differed significantly between treatment groups. Comparing the COS-treated birds to the control birds, the COS-treated birds significantly increased egg production, improved feed conversion, Haugh unit score, shell thickness, fertility, hatchability, ovary weight, and the number of yellow ovarian follicles as well as blood estradiol-17β (E<sub>2</sub>) and testosterone concentrations. Furthermore, compared to the other treated groups, introducing COS at a level of 0.1 g/kg diet resulted in the best laying rate, egg mass, and feed conversion. The highest percentage of fertility, hatchability of hatching eggs, ovary weight, number of yellow ovarian follicles, and serum E2 concentration was also found in birds fed COS at a dose of 0.2 g/kg feed. In addition, compared to the control diet, COS treatment at 0.1, 0.2, and 0.5 g/kg enhanced relative economic efficiency by 464.43, 457.41, and 352.75%, respectively. It is concluded that chitosan improves economic efficiency, reproductive performance, productivity in laying hens, and overall health when used at 0.1 g/kg diet.</p>
</abstract>

This experiment aimed to ascertain whether adding chitosan-oligosaccharides (COS) to the diet will affect Mandarah laying hens’ productivity and reproductive efficiency. At the age of 34 weeks, 120 laying hens and 12 cocks of the Mandarah chicken strain were separated into four groups, each consisting of 30 hens and three cocks. The 1st group served as a control group, receiving only a basic diet. The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th experimental groups received 0.1, 0.2, and 0.5 g/kg of chitosan-oligosaccharides as an addition to the base diet, respectively. According to the findings of this study, the majority of the analyzed attributes differed significantly between treatment groups. Comparing the COS-treated birds to the control birds, the COS-treated birds significantly increased egg production, improved feed conversion, Haugh unit score, shell thickness, fertility, hatchability, ovary weight, and the number of yellow ovarian follicles as well as blood estradiol-17β (E2) and testosterone concentrations. Furthermore, compared to the other treated groups, introducing COS at a level of 0.1 g/kg diet resulted in the best laying rate, egg mass, and feed conversion. The highest percentage of fertility, hatchability of hatching eggs, ovary weight, number of yellow ovarian follicles, and serum E2 concentration was also found in birds fed COS at a dose of 0.2 g/kg feed. In addition, compared to the control diet, COS treatment at 0.1, 0.2, and 0.5 g/kg enhanced relative economic efficiency by 464.43, 457.41, and 352.75%, respectively. It is concluded that chitosan improves economic efficiency, reproductive performance, productivity in laying hens, and overall health when used at 0.1 g/kg diet.

Influence of dietary chitosan-oligosaccharides supplementation on productive and reproductive performance of laying hens

Department of Animal Production, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences

Department of Food Science and Biotechnology, College of Life Science

Poultry Department, Faculty of Agriculture

Food Technology Department, Faculty of Agriculture

Annals of Animal Science

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

This experiment aimed to ascertain whether adding chitosan-oligosaccharides (COS) to the diet will affect Mandarah laying hens’ productivity and reproductive...

Influence of dietary chitosan-oligosaccharides supplementation on productive and reproductive performance of laying hens

Published Online: Apr 23, 2024

Page range: 491 - 502

Received: Mar 13, 2023

Accepted: Jul 21, 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/aoas-2023-0082

Keywords
hatchability, Mandarah strain, chitosan-oligosaccharides, egg mass, estradiol-17β

© 2024 Islam M. Youssef et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Influence of dietary chitosan-oligosaccharides supplementation on productive and reproductive performance of laying hens

Published Online: Apr 23, 2024

Page range: 491 - 502

Received: Mar 13, 2023

Accepted: Jul 21, 2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/aoas-2023-0082

Keywordshatchability, Mandarah strain, chitosan-oligosaccharides, egg mass, estradiol-17β

© 2024 Islam M. Youssef et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Keywords
hatchability, Mandarah strain, chitosan-oligosaccharides, egg mass, estradiol-17β