EGG QUALITY CHARACTERISTICS AND FOLLICLE STIMULATING HORMONE LEVEL OF LAYING BIRDS FED MORINGA OLEIFERA LEAF MEAL

Résumé

The study was conducted to determine the impact of graded levels of Moringa oleifera leaf meal on egg production, quality and follicle stimulating hormone content of ISA laying birds of 74 week’s old. Sixty (60) ISA brown layers were randomly assigned into four treatment groups designated T1, T2, T3, and T4 in a completely randomized design (CRD). Moringa oleifera leaf meal was oven dried at 78oC for two hours, blended to powder leaf meal and incorporated into layers mash with the following inclusion levels: Treatment 1, (Control) had 0g Moringa oleifera leaf meal/kg feed, T2 contained 5g Moringa oliefera leaf meal/kg feed, T3 had 10g Moringa oleifera leaf meal/kg feed and T4 contained 15g Moringa oleifera leaf meal/kg feed. Egg production record was kept during the study while at the end of the 56 days study, two eggs and two blood samples were collected per replicate for egg quality studies and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) assay. The egg production was also studied. The result obtained showed that the egg production was significantly (P < 0.05) affected by the treatment with the higher production obtained from the hens fed the moringa meal, especially T3 diet and the lowest egg production from hens fed the T1 diet. The shell thickness and yolk ratio were also significantly (P > 0.05) different amongst the treatment groups with the highest values from T4 although not different from T2 and T3. However, the egg weight, yolk
weight, albumen weight and yolk: albumen ratio were not significantly affected (P < 0.05) across the treatment groups. The follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) of the hens was significantly affected (P ˂ 0.05) by the dietary treatment with T3 having the highest value. It was concluded that egg production could be enhanced in old layers through the addition of 10g of Moringa oleifera leaf meal per kg feed (T3) since it increased egg production and the FSH level.