Use of Grape Marc Flour Supplementation in Laying Hens’ Diet on Laying Productivity, Egg Quality and Biochemical Parameters

Abstract

he present study was carried out to evaluate the effect of grape marc flour addition to the laying hens’ diet on their egg production, egg quality, total yolk lipids and yolk total fatty acid composition, cholesterol content in the yolk and blood serum as well as on the yolk lipid oxidation. An experiment was conducted with a total of 90 laying hens (at 40 weeks old) from Lohmann Classic Brown breed, randomly divided into three groups, 30 hens in each (3 replications x 10 layers per group). The diet of the experimental hens was supplemented with 1% and 3% of grape marc flour. The trial duration was 48 days. Grape marc flour addition to the laying hens’ compound feed did not significantly (P > 0.05) affect their live body weight, egg production, egg morphological properties as well as total yolk lipids content, total cholesterol content in the yolk and blood serum and yolk fatty acids composition. However, the egg yolk malondialdehyde (MDA) level during egg storage for 30 days at room temperature significantly decreased (P < 0.01) in comparison with control eggs. The addition of grape marc flour has the potential to extend the shelf life of eggs