Effects of dietary supplementation of vitamin C on productive performance, egg quality, tibia characteristics and antioxidant status of laying hens
- Authors
- Delos, Reyes J.B.; Kim, J.H.; Han, G.P.; Won, S.Y.; Kil, D.Y.
- Issue Date
- Jun-2021
- Publisher
- Elsevier B.V.
- Keywords
- Antioxidant status; Egg quality; Laying hen; Productive performance; Vitamin C
- Citation
- Livestock Science, v.248
- Journal Title
- Livestock Science
- Volume
- 248
- URI
- https://scholarworks.bwise.kr/cau/handle/2019.sw.cau/50530
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.livsci.2021.104502
- ISSN
- 1871-1413
1878-0490
- Abstract
- The objective of the current experiment was to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation of vitamin C on productive performance, egg quality, tibia characteristics and antioxidant status in laying hens raised under normal temperature conditions. A total of 504 46-week-old Hy-Line Brown laying hens were allotted to 1 of 6 dietary treatments with 7 replicates in a completely randomized design. A commercial-type basal diet was formulated without inclusion of supplemental vitamin C. Five treatment diets were prepared by adding 250, 500, 1000, 2000 or 3000 mg/kg vitamin C to the basal diet. Hens were raised under normal temperature conditions (20.3°C of room temperature and 60% of relative humidity, on average) for 6 weeks. Results indicated that increasing supplementation of vitamin C increased (quadratic, P < 0.05) hen-day egg production and egg mass, and decreased feed conversion ratio (quadratic, P < 0.05) and the incidence of broken and shell-less eggs (linear and quadratic, P < 0.01). The positive effects on productive performance were observable for hens fed diets supplemented with 250 mg/kg vitamin C, but no further improvements at the supplemental levels of over 250 mg/kg vitamin C were identified. Egg quality, tibia characteristics and liver antioxidant status were not affected by increasing supplementation of vitamin C in diets. Gene expression of L-gulonolactone oxidase was increased (linear, P < 0.05) in the kidney by increasing supplementation of vitamin C in diets; however, this increase was not observed in the liver. Increasing supplementation of vitamin C in diets improves productive performance of laying hens but has no effects on egg quality and tibia characteristics. The quadratic improvements in productive performance suggest that dietary supplementation of 250 mg/kg vitamin C is recommended for laying hens raised under normal temperature conditions. © 2021
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