Garlic (Allium sativum) Supplementation: Influence on Egg Production, Quality, and Yolk Cholesterol Level in Layer Hens

Abstract

Forty-eight 40-wk-old Hi-sex laying hens were individually caged in an environmentally controlled house to evaluate the effect of garlic (Allium Sativum) juice administration on egg production, egg quality, and yolk cholesterol. Garlic juice was prepared by blending pealed garlic cloves with distilled water (1:1, w/w). Hens were randomly divided into four equal groups; one served as a control and the other three groups were individually gavaged, 3.75 ml, 7.5 ml, or 15 ml garlic juice, three times a week, which respectively represented 0.25, 0.50 and 1% of body weight. Egg production was recorded on a daily basis; egg weight, albumen height, albumen and yolk pH, Haugh unit, and bacterial count of E. coli-challenged eggs were recorded at day of oviposition (day-1) and after 5 and 10 days of storage at room temperature. Yolk cholesterol content was analyzed for five successive weeks. Garlic juice increased (p<0.05) egg weight and mass with no change in egg production intensity. Garlic juice administration recorded higher (p<0.05) albumen height and improvement in Haugh unit. Also, eggs from garlic-treated hens recorded lower (p<0.05) albumen and yolk pH when compared to eggs collected from control hens. Garlic reduced (p<0.05) the log 10 of bacterial count in egg contents linearly when challenged with E. coli. Egg-yolk cholesterol content was not influenced by garlic juice administration. It is concluded that garlic juice improved performance characteristics and may increase egg shelf life as indicated by egg quality improvement and lower bacterial count of E. coli-challenged eggs. The levels of garlic juice used in this study were insufficient to influence egg yolk cholesterol.

Effect of a Dietary Herbal Mixture Supplement on the Growth Performance, Egg Production and Health Status in Chickens

“…There were not substantial differences with regard to the total cholesterol content of egg yolk regardless of the findings of other researchers demonstrating that the serum and the egg yolk cholesterol concentrations decreased (P<0.05) with increasing levels of dietary garlic (Chowdhury et al, 2002, Khan et al 2008Połtowicz and Węśyk, 2006;Canogulari et al, 2010). Our results agreed with those of Mahmoud et al (2006), who observed that the addition of garlic juice at 0.25, 0.50 and 1% did not change (P>0.05) yolk cholesterol concentration. In our opinion, this could be attributed to the relatively constant amount of cholesterol in egg yolk, needed for the normal embryonic development, i.e.…”

Effect ofLeuconostoc mesenteroidesKCCM35046 fermented aged garlic extract on egg production, egg quality, odour gas emissions, targetedE. colicolony, haematological characteristics and fatty acids composition of egg yolk in laying hens

“…However, these results are different from the findings reported by Sakine and Onbasilar (2006) who observed that the supplementation of garlic powder had no significant effect on egg breaking strength, shell thickness, albumen index, yolk index and HU. Mahmoud et al (2010) observed that garlic juice supplementation improved albumen height and HU in the 40-week-old Hi-sex laying hen. Kaya and Macit (2012) found that supplementation of dried garlic powder had no positive effect on egg shell thickness and HU in the laying hen.…”

Chemical features, cholesterol and energy content of table hen eggs from conventional and alternative farming systems

“…Certain feed additives showed promise, such as beta-cyclodextrin (Sparks, 2006), inulin (Shang et al, 2010), 0.5% multispecies probiotics (Khan et al, 2011), antioxidant, vitamins E or C (Mohiti-Asli & Zaghari, 2010, combinations of garlic and black tea (2%) (Azeke & Ekpo, 2009), 0.5% ginger root powder (Akbarian et al, 2011), up to 3.0% Nigella sativa (Islam et al, 2011) and pumpkin seeds (Celik et al, 2011). No effects on the total cholesterol content of eggs occurred when layer diets were supplemented with aromatic herb oils (thyme, sage or rosemary) (Bolukbasi et al, 2008), dried purslane (Aydin & Dogan, 2010), garlic juice (Mahmoud et al, 2010) and plant sterols (Liu et al, 2010). Other reports showed that certain feed ingredients, such as lysolecithin could increase the cholesterol content of yolk (Han et al, 2010).…”