Effect of Jatropha tanjeronsis leaf extract on performance and egg quality characteristics of laying hens

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of the administration of Jatropha tanjeronsis leaf extract on the performance and egg quality characteristics of laying hens. A total of one hundred and sixty (Isa Brown) laying hens at six weeks of laying life were used for the research. The laying hens were randomly assigned to one of the four experimental treatments namely T₁ (JTLE 0 ml), T₂ (JTLE 100 ml), T₃ (JTLE 200 ml) and T₄ (JTLE 300 ml) in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) in which each treatment was replicated four times with ten birds each. The experiment lasted for 12 weeks. Data collected on all the parameters examined were statistically analyzed. The result showed that the treatment did not have a significant influence (p>0.05) on body weight changes, feed intake, egg weight and feed conversion ratio of the birds. The hen day egg production of the laying hens showed a significant difference (p<0.05) in their values. Laying hens administered 300 ml of J. tanjeronsis leaf extract recorded the highest significant (p<0.05) hen day egg production value followed by 200- and 100-ml groups. All the egg quality characteristics of the laying hens were not significantly affected (p>0.05) by the treatments except the yolk colour. Therefore, it can be concluded that administration of J. tanjeronsis leaf extracts up to 300 ml to laying hens can enhance hen day egg production and increase yolk colour intensity in laying hens.