The research was conducted with natural ingredients and orange skin in the diet of laying pullets
to determine the suitability as pigmenting agents of egg yolk for laying chicken The influence of test
ingredients on production characteristics of laying pullets, internal and external quality characteristics of eggs
were investigated simultaneously. The experiment covered the proximate analysis of marigold, orange skin
meal to determine the nutrient concentrations, xanthophylls contents and 7th-12th weeks feeding trail to
investigate the yolk pigment availability of marigold and orange skin as well as laying performance of birds.
Orange skin and marigold were used for comparing the pigmenting ability to normal feed containing
xanthophylls. Yolk color was improved significantly as compared to control for addition of marigold and
orange skin during 4th, 8th and 12th weeks of supplementation. Inclusion of marigold and orange skin in the
diet of laying pullets did not cause deterioration in natural and external quality of eggs and there were no
significant variations with respect to body weight, hen day egg production egg weight and feed conversion.
There was no mortality of birds during study period. The results indicates the conclusion that between two
natural ingredients marigold contain more xanthophylls (156.32mg/kg DM) than orange skin (83.02mg/kg
DM) and use of 4% marigold meal in the diet of laying pullets is enough to produce eggs with yolk color score
11.00 close to 30 mg synthetic pigment/kg diet at the 12th week of supplementation, whereas the birds that
received 4% orange skin in the diet were able to produce eggs with yolk color score 5.0. Moreover, use of
marigold and orange skin in diet of pullet has no detrimental effect on internal and external quality of egg as
well as egg production characteristics. So, marigold can be used more efficiently for egg yolk pigmentation