Rosemary extract improves egg quality by altering gut barrier function, intestinal microbiota and oviductal gene expressions in late-phase laying hens

Table 1 Effects of rosemary extract on laying performance of laying hens¹

Item	CON	CTC	RE50	RE100	RE200	SEM	P-value
Before the formal experiment
Egg production, %	79.17	79.37	78.57	79.37	78.57	2.29	0.99
1–4 weeks
Egg production, %	74.06	80.78	79.51	82.74	81.47	4.22	0.63
Egg weight, g	57.39	58.08	57.62	56.99	58.72	0.65	0.41
Egg mass, g/d per bird	44.56	46.98	45.99	47.13	45.95	2.60	0.96
Average daily feed intake, g/d per bird	107.86	107.91	103.75	108.07	105.88	2.40	0.66
Feed conversion ratio, g/g	2.51	2.31	2.37	2.30	2.28	0.19	0.89
5–8 weeks
Egg production, %	75.82	80.88	78.83	82.02	78.61	2.87	0.59
Egg weight, g	58.33	57.87	58.31	58.06	60.00	0.65	0.18
Egg mass, g/d per bird	45.22	46.97	46.23	47.88	48.14	2.11	0.86
Average daily feed intake, g/d per bird	108.13	105.46	108.94	106.13	103.96	1.78	0.32
Feed conversion ratio, g/g	2.45	2.25	2.38	2.22	2.19	0.11	0.47
1–8 weeks
Egg production, %	74.94	80.83	79.17	82.38	80.04	3.29	0.57
Egg weight, g	57.86	57.98	57.96	57.52	59.36	0.63	0.31
Egg mass, g/d per bird	44.89	46.97	46.11	47.51	47.14	2.23	0.92
Average daily feed intake, g/d per bird	107.99	106.68	106.34	107.10	104.50	1.88	0.78
Feed conversion ratio, g/g	2.47	2.28	2.35	2.26	2.23	0.13	0.70

CON Control, CTC 50 mg/kg chlortetracycline, RE50 50 mg/kg rosemary extract, RE100 100 mg/kg rosemary extract, RE200 200 mg/kg rosemary extract
¹Values are shown as mean ± SEM, n = 6

ISSN: 2049-1891