This study aimed to evaluate the potential of
Moringa oleifera fresh leaves (MOL) as feed supplement
on the performance and egg quality of Rhode Island Red
(RIR) hens under the tropical conditions of Yucatan, Mexico.
Forty-eight RIR hens were allocated in 12 floor pen
replicates each with four birds. Thereafter, the replicates
were divided into three groups which were corresponded
to ad libitum feed (control), ad libitum feed supplemented
with MOLT1 (AL + MOL) and restricted feed amount (20%
lower than control) with MOL T2 (RCD + MOL), respectively.
T1 (AL + MOL) had higher egg laying rate (71.4%
versus 66.6%), higher daily egg mass production (45.4
versus 41.9 g/day), lower feed intake (121.3 versus
127.5 g/day) and better feed conversion ratio (2.8 versus
3.2 g feed:g egg) versus control. T2 / (RCD + MOL) had
lower values of body weight, egg laying rate, egg weight
and egg mass, and recorded better feed conversion ratio than
the control group. The control group recorded a higher
percentage of pecked eggs versus T1 and T2 (6.5% versus
1.2% and 2.0 %). Similar intake of MOL (3.1 and 3.4 g DM/
day) was recorded in T1 (AL + MOL) and T2 (RCD +
MOL). Yolk color was improved significantly in T1 (AL +
MOL) than both control and T2 (RCD + MOL), while T2
(RCD + MOL) had eggs with lower yolk and higher albumen
percentages than the other two ad libitum groups. The results suggest that MOL could be used successfully as
sustainable tropical feed resource for RIR hens.
Twelve eggs (one from each replicate) were collected randomly
twice a week throughout the experimental period
(12 weeks) and used for measuring the quality traits (144
eggs from each treatment). The length and breadth of each
egg were measured to calculate the shape index [(breadth /
length)×100]. After weighing the eggs individually, each
egg was broken onto a flat surface, and the yolk was separated,
weighed and the height and width were measured to
calculate the yolk coefficient [(height / breadth)×100]. The
yolk color was determined using the Roche color fan (six to
15 color grades). The albumen was removed from shells and
shells plus membranes were weighed. Shell thickness was
measured using a micrometer (Mizayaki, Japan). The weight of albumen was calculated as the difference between the
total egg weight and weights of shell and yolk in each egg.
Thereafter, the percentages of egg component weights (Albumen%,
Yolk% and shell%) were calculated in relation to
the total egg weight.