Livestock Studies 2000, Vol 40, Num, 2     (Pages: 065-074)

The Effects of Niacin on Egg Production and Egg Quality

Tülin DİKİCİOĞLU 1 ,A.Arzu YİĞİT 2 ,Emine ÖZDEMİR 3

1 Kırıkkale Üniversitesi Veteriner Fakültesi, Hayvan Besleme ve Beslenme Hastalıkları Anabilim Dalı - KIRIKKALE
2 Kırıkkale Üniversitesi Veteriner Fakültesi, Fizyoloji Anabilim Dalı - KIRIKKALE
3 Tarım ve Köyişleri Bakanlığı Hayvancılık Araştırma Enstitüsü Müdürlüğü, LALAHAN – ANKARA
- This study was carried out to determine the effects of layer rations containing 250, 500, 1000 and 1500 mg/kg niacin on body weight, feed consumption, egg production, egg quality, egg cholesterol and blood cholesterol.

A totally of 120 commercial hens (28 weeks of age) were used in this experiment. There was a control and four treatment groups, each containing 24 hens. The experimental period lasted 16 weeks.

It was concluded that feed efficiency, egg breaking strength, egg shell thickness and blood cholesterol were increased, while yolk cholesterol was significantly (p<0.01) decreased by the addition of niacin to the rations. There were no statistically significant differences among groups in terms of feed consumption and egg weight. Body weight was influenced negatively. Keywords : Niacin, hen, egg production, egg quality, cholesterol