Comparative evaluation of dietary supplementation with mannan oligosaccharide and oregano essential oil in forced molted and fully fed laying hens between 82 and 106 weeks of age

• Published in: Poultry science 2016-11, Vol.95 (11), p.2576-2591
• Main Authors: Bozkurt, M., Bintaş, E., Kırkan, Ş., Akşit, H., Küçükyılmaz, K., Erbaş, G., Çabuk, M., Akşit, D., Parın, U., Ege, G., Koçer, B., Seyrek, K., Tüzün, A. E.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal Feed - analysis; Animals; Chickens - physiology; Diet - veterinary; Female; Mannans - metabolism; Molting - physiology; Oils, Volatile - metabolism; Oligosaccharides - metabolism; Origanum - chemistry; Prebiotics; Random Allocation
• ISSN: 0032-5791; 1525-3171
• DOI: 10.3382/ps/pew140

The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of feed-grade preparations of mannan oligosaccharides (MOS) and oregano essential oil (OEO) in forced molted or fully fed 82-week-old, laying hens. A 2 × 3 factorial experiment investigated the influence of molting vs. full feeding and dietary supplements [i.e., unsupplemented control, MOS (1 g/kg) diet, and OEO (24 mg/kg) diet] on production parameters, egg quality, serum stress indicators, blood constituents, tibial characteristics, liver antioxidant status, and cecal microflora composition. A total of 864 Single Comb White Leghorn hens were randomly assigned to 6 treatments, each with 6 replicates of 24 hens each, and studied for 25 wk. Hens were fed a molt diet containing of 50% alfalfa and 50% wheat bran (aa+wb) for 12 d, then returned to the laying ration. Results indicate that molt vs. full feed impacted more on most variables measured than supplementation or supplement type. Significant (P