Physiological Responses of Laying Birds Fed Honey and Vitamin C in Drinking Water

Abstract

The continuous challenge of climate and its impact on livestock with the resultant threats in food security necessitated the need to mitigate the effect of stress on the physiological response of layers. This study was designed to investigate the effect of honey and vitamin C fed to layers in drinking water, on the growth performance, physiological response and egg quality characteristics, One hundred and twenty Shika brown layers were randomly divided into four treatment groups of 30 layers, each replicated three times with 10 layers per replicate, in a randomized complicate block design (RCBD). The groups were fed four diets containing 0 ml (only water), 200 mg/litre (vitamin C), 10 ml honey and 20 ml honey representing treatments 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively for 84 days during hot dry seasons. The measurements taken were daily ambient temperature and relative humidity of the pen, body weight, heart and respiratory rate, rectal temperatures and hen day egg production. The results showed that the final body weight and egg hen day production were significantly (p<0.05) influenced by the treatments. Layers on treatment 4 was superior to those on treatment I with regards to body weight (1827 g) and hen day egg production (80.9%) as against (1717 g) and (53.3%) for treatment 1 respectively. Layers on T1 recorded the highest mean value of 114.6 beats per minutes (bpm) and 48 bpm for HR and RR, respectively. Therefore, inclusion of honey at 20% level improved the growth performance and physiological responses of layers during stress conditions