The Effect of green tea (Camelia sinensis) supplementation on internal quality of laying hens table eggs

• Main Authors: Henrieta Arpášová, Martin Fik
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Agroprint Timisoara 2018-05-01
• Series: Scientific Papers Animal Science and Biotechnologies
• Subjects: green tea, egg yolk, egg albumen, table eggs, quality
• Online Access: http://spasb.ro/index.php/spasb/article/view/2501
• ISSN: 1841-9364; 2344-4576

In this experiment the effects of supplementation of the diet for laying hens with different doses of green tea (Camelia sativa) on egg quality were studied. Hens of laying hybrid Lohmann Brown (n=30) were randomly divided into 3 groups (n=10) and fed for 16 weeks with diets with green tea powder supplemented. In the control group hens received feed mixture without any additives. The diets in the first and second treatment group were supplemented with 0.5% or 1.0% green tea powder. The egg weight (g), specific egg weight (g/cm3), egg yolk weight (g), egg yolk index, egg yolk color (°HLR), albumen weight (g), egg albumen index and Haugh units (HU) were evaluated. Results showed that the addition of green tea powder slightly decreased egg weight (P>0.05). Supplementation of the feed mixture with the green tea powder statistically significantly affected the albumen index in both groups compared to the control group (P<0.05) (values in the order of the groups: 84.04±16.06, 87.67±14.19*,89.42±16.10*mean±SD). Addition of a feed mixture with a green tea powder increased Haugh units in both the tests groups, however, significantly affected the Haugh units only in the second treatment group compared to the control group (values in the order of the groups: 79.89±7.26. 81.19±6.49 84.84±11.99* mean±SD). The results suggest that the egg weight, specific egg weight, yolk weight, yolk index, yolk colour and albumen weight were not significantly influenced with green tea addition.