Fatty acids in feed of laying hens on the production parameters and the ratio of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids

Abstract

Enriching table eggs with certain nutrients such as omega-3 fatty acids is an ongoing topic. Therefore, the aforementioned research was carried out with the aim of examining the possibility of feeding laying hens with ground flax seed, flax cake and flaxseed oil and their influence on the ratio of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids of table eggs, as well as on certain production parameters. The experiment was set up in a production facility with 192 consuming laying hens 27 weeks old. The laying hens were divided into 4 groups: control group; group fed with flax cake (10%) + flax oil (2%); a group fed with 5% ground flax and a group fed with 10% ground flax. Each group had 8 cages with 6 laying hens, a total of 48 laying hens per group. The production parameters presented in this paper are as follows: number of eggs per laying hen , egg weight and yolk weight. Egg quality indicators were determined at the end of the 5th and 10th week from the start of the experiment, namely: pH of egg white and yolk, polyunsaturated and saturated fatty acids ratio, as well as omega-3 and omega-3 fatty acids ratio. The results of the study showed that the inclusion of flax cake, flax oil and ground flaxseed had no negative effects on the shown production parameters and that there was a positive effect of these nutrients on the ratio of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids in table eggs.