Objective: This study was performed to investigate the effects of supplementing sesame seed meal (SSM) with phytase and lysine on performance, egg quality, blood biochemical and antioxidant status of laying hens.
Methods: A total of 960, 56-wk-old laying hens were divided into 12 dietary groups with eight replicates per group (10 birds per replicate). A completely randomized design with factorial arrangement 2×3×2 consisted of two levels of lysine supplement (0 and 10% over requirement), three SSM levels (0, 10 and 20%) with or without phytase (0 and 300 g/ton). The feeding trial lasted 10 weeks.
Results: From findings, birds fed diets with 10% SSM had higher feed intake than groups fed 0 and 20% SSM. The addition of phytase to experimental feeds, improved feed conversion ratio (FCR), increased egg weight and mass (P<0.01). Egg quality criteria was not affected by supplementing phytase; however, supplementing 300 g/ton phytase to hens diet, led to a significant (P<0. 05) increase in egg shell strength. Egg yolk cholesterol and serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), atherogenic index and total cholesterol were decreased (P<0.01) by diet containing 20% SSM. The high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) was increased (P<0.05) in serum of hens fed 20% SSM than the other groups. It was also observed that total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and total superoxide dismutase (TSOD) content of hens fed 20% SSM was significantly upper than control group (P<0.05).
Conclusion: As from results, dietary supplementation of SSM and phytase had no negative effects on laying hens performance or egg quality improving also the egg oxidative stability.
Keywords: Antioxidant capacity; Egg; Hen; Sesame; Superoxide dismutase; Yolk.