Effect of Fiber Degrading Enzyme (Extracted from Chatomium thermophyle) on Egg Quality, Dry Matter Retention and Economic Appraisal in Old Age Layers Using High Fiber Rations

Present study was conducted to evaluate the effects of fiber degrading enzyme on egg quality parameters in old age layer (80 weeks old). For this purpose, 120 white leghorn layers of uniform body weight were randomly selected and divided into 15 experimental units of 8 birds each. Five treatments (each having three replicates) i.e., control T1 (commercial layer mash), T2 (layer mash having 6% fiber + 1X enzyme), T3 (layer mash having 8% fiber + 1X enzyme), T4 (layer mash having 6% fiber + 2X enzyme) and T5 (layer mash having 8% fiber + 2X enzyme) were randomly allotted to experimental units. Egg quality parameters including egg weight, egg shell thickness, yolk index, haugh-unit value, blood and meat spot and dry matter retentions were measured. Data was analyzed statistically using analysis of variance technique under completely randomized design. The effect of treatments on egg weight was found to be significant (p<0.01). The birds under treatment T4 (64.80 g) showed significantly higher egg weight compared with the control group (62.75 g). Enzyme supplementation also have significant effect on eggshell thickness and albumin height. The birds under control treatment showed maximum value (0.3725 mm) of eggshell thickness but the difference was non- significant compared with T4 (0.3550 mm) and T5 (0.3587 mm) group. Similarly the maximum values for albumin height was observed in the control group (7.159 mm); however, the difference was non-significant with T3 (6.645 mm) and T4 (6.558 mm). The effect of treatment on yolk height, yolk diameter, yolk index, haugh unit and dry matter retention was found to be non significant. Maximum profit/bird was observed in T2 followed by T4, T5, T3 and T1, respectively.