Effect of garlic and Tra fish oil supplementation on performance, egg production and quality, serum lipids and yolk cholesterol of laying hens 

Nguyen Nhut Xuan Dung, Le Thanh Quang, Le Thanh Phuong and Luu Huu Manh

Faculty of Agriculture and Applied Biology, Can Tho University, Vietnam
nnxdung@ctu.edu.vn

Abstract

Four hundred eighty Hi-sex Brown (22-36^th week of age) were used to evaluate the effect of supplementation of Tra fish oil (TFO), crude rice bran oil (CRBO) or/and garlic powder (Allium Sativum) on production and quality of eggs, plasma lipid and egg yolk cholesterol. Hens were allocated according to a completely randomized design into six treatments: control (basal diet, BS); BS plus 1% of garlic, TFO, CRBO or/and with garlic with 20 replicates. Both TFO and CRBO are rich in unsaturated fatty acids, especially CRBO contains high amount of linoleic acid (34%).

Dietary treatments had significant effect on egg production (P<0.01), feed intake (g/day, P<0.01) as compared to the control, while feed intake (g feed/ egg) was similar (P=0.66). Adding 1% of garlic or Tra fish oil to diets increased yolk ratio (P=0.4), but did not affect on Haugh unit, shape index or shell ratio. Dietary treatments were not affected on plasma and yolk cholesterol (P>0.05).

Keywords: Cholesterol, egg production, fatty acids, feed efficiency, oryzanol, yolk 

Introduction

Garlic (Allium sativum) is widely distributed in the world and used as a spice and herbal for the prevention and treatment of many diseases. There are some studies on animals and human suggested that alliin (S-allylcysteine sulfoxide) and diallyl disulfide-oxide (allicin), two active compounds  produced by  garlic,  may  reduce  the  levels  of  serum cholesterol,  triglyceride  and  LDL  on men (Alder  and  Holub, 1997). Average cholesterol content per one egg is 213 mg (Stadelman, 1995). High intake of cholesterol in food affects the blood cholesterol level in human. Mottaghitalab and Taraz (2002), Khan et al. (2008) reported that serum  and  egg  yolk  cholesterol concentrations  decreased  with  increasing  levels  of dietary garlic. Besides, some studies on laying hens indicated that supplementation garlic in laying hens may improve egg production and yolk color (Ghasemi et al., 2010, Chowdhury et al. 2002). According to Khan, dietary inclusion oven dried garlic powder increased egg production of Desi hens.

In the Mekong delta, tra fish oil and crude rice bran oil are locally available by products of fish processing and rice exporting, which are produced in big quantity and very cheap as compared to other edible oils. Crude rice bran oil and Tra fish oil are rich unsaturated fatty acids reduce elevated triacyiglycerol concentrations. To provide a complete management of egg production and quality with tra fish oil or crude rice bran oil, it could be benefits when use simultaneously with garlic.

The aims of the present study were to evaluate the effects of the supplementation Tra fish oi, crude rice bran oil or/and garlic powder on egg production and quality, plasma lipid, egg yolk cholesterol and return over feed cost of laying hens.

Materials and methods

Location

The experiment was conducted from August 2011 to November 2011 in a private farm at Ba Ria-Vung Tau province.

Experimental birds and diets

Four hundred eighty Hi-sex Brown (22-36^th week of age) were kept in an environmentally controlled house. 4 birds at live weight of approximately 1.6 kg±0.1 were placed in a cage and used for a period of 12 weeks; a daily photoperiod consisted of 15 h of light and 9 h of darkness (15L: 9D). Birds were vaccinated against diseases of IB, ND and H₅N_1.

A basal diet was formulated as a control. Feed and water was provided ad libitum. The basal diet was supplemented with 0 (control), 1% garlic; 1% Tra fish oil; 1% crude rice bran oil (RBO); 1% garlic + 1% CRBO; 1% garlic + 1% Tra fish oil (TFO).

Experimental diets included 6 treatments:

• Control:        basal diet (BS)
• Treatment 1: BS + 1 % garlic (Gar)  
•  Treatment 2: BS +1% tra fish oil (TFO)
• Treatment 3:  BS  + 1% rice bran oil (CRBO)
• Treatment 4:  BS  + 1 % garlic + 1% CRBO
• Treatment 5:  BS  + 1 % garlic + 1% TFO (GTFO)

The formulation and composition of basal diet and garlic are shown in Table 1. Garlic powder was purchased from Food Co., LTD in HCM city. Crude rice bran oil was bought from Wilmar Agro Vietnam Company limited in Cantho city. Tra fish oil was purchased from artisan tra fish oil processing in Thot Not district, Cantho city.

Experimental design

The experimental diets was allocated according to a randomized completely design with 6 treatments, 20 replicates and 4 hens per treatment to give a total of 480 birds.

Experimental parameters

All birds were fed the basal diet in 2 weeks prior to start of the experiment. Feed consumption was daily recorded and feed efficiency (kg feed/kg egg) was calculated during the 10 weeks experimental period. Egg production and egg weights were daily recorded and egg mass was calculated by multiplying egg production by egg weight to determine actual egg yield.  At weeks 26, 28 and 30, eggs were taken from each treatment for two consecutive days, they were weighed and their shape index and shell weight were measured, yolk height and width, albumin height, width and length were recorded. The Haugh unit, indexes of yolk, shape, and albumin were calculated. At the end of the experimental period, six hens per replicate were randomly selected for plasma cholesterol analysis. Blood samples were taken from the wing vein in the morning before feeding by using sterilized syringe and needles into sterile tubes with anticoagulation and samples were directly send  to  the  laboratory  for analysis. Return over feed cost of eggs was calculated by using the prevailing market rates.

Laboratory analysis

Egg yolk was extracted according to a method of Pasin et al (1998), yolk cholesterol was analysed using Kits of Human Diagnotistics Worlwide (Human GmbH-65205 Wiesbaden- German). The concentrations of total cholesterol, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in plasma were measured according to the colorimetric method using a biochemistry analyser Siemens Advia 1200. Fatty acid profile of crude rice bran oil and Tra fish oil were analysis at Analytical Centre in Cantho Province using gas chromatography, GC-ISO/CD 5509:94. Basal diet was analysed for dry matter, crude protein, crude fibre, and ether extract according to the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (1995).

Statistical analysis

Data were analysed by analysis of variance using the General Linear Models procedure of Minitab (2000). When differences among treatment were significant, Tukey’s test was used in the same software.  

Results and discussion

Fatty acid profile of crude rice bran and Tra fish oil

Fatty acid profile of CRBO and TFO is presented in Table 2. CRBO was high in unsaturated fatty acid (77.5%), particularly rich in linoleic acid contents (33,1%), which plays an important role in determining the size of eggs (Jensen and Shutze 1963; March 1989), as compared to TFO (56.52% and 10.88%, respectively). The analytical results of Wilmar Agro Vietnam Company also revealed that CRBO had high content of the unsaponifiables (Nguyen Nhut Xuan Dung et al, 2012) such as oryzanol and ferulic acid that made  CRBO be lower cholesterol compared to most of vegetable oils, had high cholesterol lowering activity (Wilson et al. 2007).  

Both oils had the same value of oleic acid (41.7 and 42.4%, respectively). Linolenic acid was also found in CRBO (1.37%) and TFO (0.61%). CRBO contained no Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), while TFO had a small content of DHA (0.21%). Both CRBO and TFO contained high ratio of essential fatty acid. Therefore, these two available by-products in the Mekong delta are to be used in laying hen or animal diets and may provide health benefits. 

Effect of dietary treatments on hen performance

The effects of dietary treatments on performance of hens are presented in Table 3. The use of the supplementations in layer diets significantly increased egg production (P<0.01), but did not modify egg weight (P=0.06). However, egg mass (g/hen/day) of hens fed diet supplemented with CRBO, TFO and/or GAR was higher than those fed basal diet (P=0.01).

All the treatments were higher feed intake (g/day) as compared to the control, this could be explained that the supplementation of garlic, CRBO, TFO or combination might reduce dust, increase energy (CRBO and TFO) and stimulate feed intake comparing with those fed the control (P<0.01). However, feed intake (g/egg) was not differed among treatments (P=0.66), because the increasing of egg production coincided with enhancing feed intake (g/day).  

Figure 1: Effect of dietary treatments on egg weight and egg mass

 Effect of dietary treatments on egg quality

Dietary treatments did not influence egg quality as shape index, albumin index, yolk index, colour and Haugh unit, but yolk ratio was heavier than those of the control (P=0.04). March (1989), March and McMillan (1990), Grobas and Mateos (1999), who found that diets supplemented with linoleic acid increased the yolk weight, probably through improvement of lipoprotein synthesis by the developing of ova.   

The diets supplemented with CRBO, TFO and/or garlic did not effect on plasma cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL and LDL of laying hens (Table 4). Oryzanol that is a powerful antioxidant only found in rice bran oil (Juliano et al., 2005).  The role of oryzanol in reducing plasma cholesterol, protecting against heart disease, cancer, and other illnesses on human and animals was well documented (Patel and Naik, 2004). However, the present study found that at level 1%, the supplementations did not show it effect on lowering cholesterol in plasma or egg yolk, it was probably this level was low and not enough dose to show their antioxidant function as our accompany study (Nguyen Nhut Xuan  Dung, 2012) showed that at level 2.5 or 3% CRBO decreased egg yolk cholesterol.

Similarity, this present study did not see the effect of garlic on reducing plasma triglycerides or yolk cholesterol, while many studies indicated alliin (S-allylcysteine sulfoxide) and diallyl disulfide-oxide (allicin) in garlic, two active compounds have antioxidant property, reduce plasma triglyceride, LDL and cholesterol in human (Silagy and Neil, 1994; Warshafsky et al., 1993; Alder  and  Holub, 1997). Sharma et al (1979) reported that feeding 1 or 3% garlic powder in three weeks reduced egg yolk cholesterol. Sklan et al. (1992) said a reduction of hepatic cholesterol concentrations was found when chickens were fed 2% garlic in 14 days. Benefits of garlic for health were intensive studied; however, there were some controversies on results of using garlic on reducing plasma or egg yolk cholesterol.  Birrenkott et al. (2000) reported that 3% garlic powder did not have any significant effect on yolk and serum cholesterol concentrations when laying hens were fed diets for 8 months. The same results were presented by Berthold et al. (1998), Isaacsohn et al. (1998), McCrindle et al. (1998) that garlic extract many not be hypocholesterolemic. The reason is unknown, but some studies indicated that allicin was unstable poorly absorbed from the digestive tract, cannot be detected in blood or urine after the ingestion raw garlic or allicin (Lawson et al., 1992).

 Economic analysis

The feed costs of hens fed diets supplemented with Tra fish oil or crude rice bran oil or/and garlic were increased; however total eggs of these treatments was higher than the control diet. This advantage gave a different in total egg cost among treatments, higher benefit found on hens fed supplemented feeds (Table 7)

Conclusions

·         Crude rice oil or tra fish oil or/and garlic can be supplemented alone or combination in laying hen diets to enhance egg production, egg quality, feed efficiency and more benefit for producers.

 Acknowledgements

The authors express their gratitude to the MEKARN program financed by the Sida-SAREC project for providing the opportunity and the budget to do the research. We would like to say thank you Prof. Thomas Preston and Prof. Brian Ogle for your kindness helped us very much in carrying out our research.

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