The effect of feeding rosemary, oregano, saffron and &#945-tocopheryl acetate on hen performance and oxidative stability of eggs

Abstract

In this study the effects of feeding rosemary, oregano, saffron and α-tocopheryl acetate on hen performance and egg quality were investigated. One hundred-twenty Lohmann laying hens, 32 weeks old, were divided into five groups replicated four times with six hens per replicate. One group was given a basal diet and served as control (CON). The experimental diets given to the other four groups were based on the basal diet but contained an additional 200 mg α-tocopheryl acetate/kg (TOC), or rosemary at 5 g/kg diet (ROS), oregano at 5 g/kg diet (ORE) or saffron at 20 mg/kg diet (SAF). At the end of the feeding trial that lasted 56 days, hen performance and some egg quality characteristics were determined, whereas the oxidative stability of the refrigerated stored shell eggs and liquid yolks were also examined. Results showed no significant differences in egg production, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, egg weight and shape, yolk shape, Haugh units and shell thickness among treatments. However, yolk colour was significantly improved in the SAF group compared to all other groups. The extent of lipid oxidation in shell eggs differed among the dietary treatments, but did not change with storage time. In liquid yolk at pH 6.2, lipid oxidation was higher in the CON group compared to all other groups. The ORE group presented lower oxidation rate than the ROS group, but higher than the SAF group, which in turn exhibited higher oxidation rate than the TOC group. When liquid yolk was acidified to pH 4.2, the lipid oxidation profile remained unchanged but the rate was much more intense.

Effect of lavender (<i>Lavandula Stoechas</i>) essential oil on growth performance, carcass characteristics, meat quality and antioxidant status of broilers

“…This was fully in agreement with earlier research findings, which indicated that phenolic compounds of plants from the Labiate family improved the oxidative stability of poultry meat (Lopez-Bote et al, 1998;Botsoglou et al, 2002Botsoglou et al, , 2005Basmacıoğlu et al, 2004). The marked increase in L* value in chicken meat is closely related to total antioxidant capacity because of the relationship between brightness of meat (L* value) and phospholipase A 2 activity, an enzyme that oxidases phospholipids in meat (Soares et al, 2003).…”

“…Phytogenic compounds that were tested, which are mostly consisted of phenolic compounds, include rosemary and sage extracts (Lopez-Bote et al, 1998), oregano and oregano oil (Botsoglou et al, 2002;, rosemary (Govaris et al, 2004), and rosemary and oregano oil (Basmacıoğlu et al, 2004;Botsoglou et al, 2005). However, there were no indications of significant beneficial effects of phytoadditive compounds on carcass yield and carcass cut-up parts yield (Alçiçek et al, 2004;Jamroz et al, 2005).…”

The effect of essential oils on quality and mineral composition of eggshell

“…As regards eggshell thickness higher doses of thyme and oregano oils (1 ml kg -1 ) in feed mixture had positive effect (P >0.05). Similar findings to previous study found Botsoglou et al (2005). Park et al (2015) presented eggshell thickness of layers in the range from 0.37 to 0.40 mm.…”

Trace Mineral Sources and Rosemary Oil in the Diet of Brown Laying Hens: Egg Quality and Lipid Stability

“…Likewise, the active compounds of rosemary (such as carnosol and carnosic acid) are capable of terminating free-radical reactions and scavenging reactive oxygen species (Sánchez-Escalante et al, 2001), preventing the oxidation of yolk fatty acids, as these antioxidant compounds can be transferred from the hen's diet to the egg (Botsoglou et al, 2005).…”

“…Moreover, the antioxidant compounds found in rosemary can be transferred to eggs through the hen's diet, as detected by Botsoglou et al (2005), who evaluated the inclusion of rosemary (5g kg ) extracts in the diets of laying hens.…”