Effects of five proprietary vitamin-mineral premixes and housing systems on deposition of selected vitamins and selenium in chicken eggs at the late laying phase

Abstract

Effect of five different proprietary vitamin-mineral premixes (VMPs) on deposition of vitamins E, B₂, B₅ and Se in chicken eggs at the late phase of laying in two housing systems (HS) were assessed in this study. The experiment was a 2 X 5 factorial arrangement in a completely randomized design, Bovan Nera black chickens (n=480) at week 60 of laying were equally allotted to two HS in the deep litter (DPL) and battery cage (BTC) comprising five dietary treatments of 48 birds per treatment each in six replicates with eight birds per replicate. Five isocaloric and isonitrogenous diets formulated were each supplemented with 0.25% of the different VMP 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 to obtain treatments T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5, respectively. Experimental diets and water were offered to respective birds ad libitum. At week 70, 60 eggs were sampled from each HS then assayed within 48 hours of lay for vitamins E, B₂, B₅ and selenium. Only the deposition of vitamin B was affected significantly (P<0.05) by the different dietary VMP. Deposition of vitamin E (1045.69 and 1059.68μg/100g), vitamin B₂ (0.06 and 0.04mg/100g) and selenium (23.06 and 26.65μg/100g) in eggs 2 from BTC and DPL, respectively varied significantly (P<0.05). However, interactions of HS and different VMP significantly affected (P<0.05) vitamin B₂ deposition. The DPL HS increased deposition of vitamin E and selenium in eggs while vitamin B₂ was lowered. Deposition of only vitamin B₂ in egg was influenced by the different dietary VMP while there was neither direct nor effect of interaction of treatments on the deposition of vitamin B₅ in eggs.