Impact of dried thyme leaf meal on production performance, egg quality and blood parameters of laying hens

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Yasin, A, Tamiru, M, Alkhtib, A ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3381-0304, Mohammed, A, Tadesse, T, Wamatu, J and Burton, E ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2784-6922, 2025. Impact of dried thyme leaf meal on production performance, egg quality and blood parameters of laying hens. Veterinary Medicine and Science, 11 (1): e70146. ISSN 2053-1095

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/vms3.70146

Abstract

Background

The use of commercially extracted phytogenic compounds to maintain poultry health and productivity in the absence of in-feed antibiotics is prohibitively costly in developing countries.

Objectives

The goal of the study is to determine the effect of dietary supplementation with Thymus schimperi leaf meal (TLM) on production performance, egg quality and haemato-biochemical parameters of Bovan brown layers.

Methods

A total of 96 laying hens at 25 weeks of age were randomly assigned to 4 treatments with 6 replications each. The treatments include the control (standard commercial laying diet), TLM1.5 (control + 1.5% TLM), TLM2.5 (control + 2.5% TLM) and TLM3.5 (control + 3.5% TLM). Egg production, feed intake and feed conversion ratio were recorded for each replicate. Two eggs per replication were used to measure internal and external egg quality traits on a monthly basis. At the end of the trial, blood samples were collected from 2 birds/replicate for the determination of albumin, uric acid, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, luteinizing hormone, prolactin and progesterone.

Results

All blood parameters were within the normal ranges of the breed. Egg production, feed conversion ratio, internal egg quality traits and external egg quality traits of hens fed diets containing 2.5% TLM were significantly higher than the control. Furthermore, diets containing 2.5% TLM led to a significantly reduced feed conversion ratio compared to all other dietary treatments.

Conclusions

In conclusion, 2.5% TML is recommended to improve egg production and egg quality without adverse effect on hen health.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Veterinary Medicine and Science
Creators:	Yasin, A., Tamiru, M., Alkhtib, A., Mohammed, A., Tadesse, T., Wamatu, J. and Burton, E.
Publisher:	Wiley
Date:	January 2025
Volume:	11
Number:	1
ISSN:	2053-1095
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1002/vms3.70146 DOI 2423679 Other
Rights:	© 2024 The Author(s). Veterinary Medicine and Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences
Record created by:	Melissa Cornwell
Date Added:	08 Apr 2025 09:25
Last Modified:	08 Apr 2025 09:25
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/53376