Two experiments were carried out to evaluate the effects of Pearl Millet in combination with different levels of flaxseed and natural pigment (Oro Glo 15RTM) on quantity of n-3 fatty acids in eggs, laying performance and yolk pigmentation. In the first experiment, six different diet treatments were used for six weeks, with 24 hens per treatment (three birds per cage, eight cage replicates). Control diet was a corn-soybean meal diet, and diets containing 0, 2, 4, 8 or 12% ground flaxseed in which all the corn was replaced by pearl millet. In the second experiment, the diet treatments consisted of pearl millet and three inclusion levels of ground flaxseed (4%, 6% and 8%) and two levels (0.1% and 0.2%) of natural pigment in a factorial arrangement. The experiment lasted for twelve weeks, with 18 hens per treatment (three birds per cage, six cage replicates). In each of the experiments, all the diets were formulated to be isocaloric and isonitrogenous and to meet or exceed NRC requirements. Body weight of the birds and feed consumption were recorded at weekly (first experiment) and biweekly (second experiment) intervals. Number of eggs and egg mass produced were measured and recorded on a daily basis. At the end of each of the experiments, all the hens were euthanized to determine liver integrity. In both of the experiments, flock performance parameters were not different among treatments. In regard to egg traits, in the second experiment after 8 week of the start of the experiment, birds fed with diets containing 8% flaxseed produced significantly ( P < 0.05) smaller eggs compared to hens fed 4% flaxseed. Yolk pigmentation was lower (P < 0.05) for the eggs produced by hens fed diets containing pearl millet compared with those produced by feeding corn-based diet. However, 0.1% or 0.2% inclusion of the pigment both proved to be suitable to restore yolk pigmentation to marketable levels. No difference was observed among diets in regard to liver haemorrhage. Evaluation of FA profiles indicated that birds fed a diet containing PM as the sole grain source, and low levels of flaxseed (6%) can produce eggs with more than 350 mg/egg of n-3 FA, which is the lower standard to market eggs as "n-3 FA enriched". / Keywords: laying hens, pearl millet, flaxseed, natural pigment, flock performance, eggs, liver haemorrhage.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.100759 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Amini, Keyvan. |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Science (Department of Animal Science.) |
| Rights | © Keyvan Amini, 2007 |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002614152, proquestno: AAIMR32655, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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