Effects of green tea powder supplementation on egg production and egg quality in laying hens

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of green tea powder supplementation on egg production and egg quality in chickens. A total of 240 Xianju chickens (all aged 20 weeks) were randomly allotted to five treatments, control group T0, no diet supplements; test groups T1, T2 and T3 were supplemented with 1%, 2% and 3% green tea powder into basal diet, respectively; test group T4, 3% green tea powder and 1.5% peanut oil were added to the diet. After the rearing test, the eggs from each treatment were collected and later analysed for egg quality. Results suggest that 1% green tea powder supplementation had little effect on egg production and feed conversion, but high amounts of green tea powder (>2%) treatment significantly decreased the egg production performance. Green tea powder treatment had some beneficial effects on egg quality, especially in the albumen height and Haugh unit. Additionally, green tea powder treatment significantly changed the nutritional composition of eggs.