Productive Performance, Hatching Egg Quality and Health Indices of Hisex Brown Laying Hens Fed Extruded Grain Amaranth

Abstract

The article presents results proving the feasibility of extruded amaranth grain (Amaranthus cruentus) in feeding breeding laying hens of the Hisex Brown cross (aged 25-45 weeks). Due to improvements in the quality indicators of hatching eggs, such as weight (2.09%; P<0.01), Haugh units (1.07%; P<0.05), and shell thickness strengthened (5.0 µm; P<0.05) to 362 µm, it was possible to increase egg laying intensity by 1.81%, hatching egg yield by 2.20%, and hatching of chickens by 1.33% with the addition of 5% extruded grain to the diet structure. In the test group, there was an 11.66% (P<0.05) reduction in cholesterol in the yolk of eggs. The test group's hemoglobin concentration rose by 4.16% (P<0.05) in comparison to the control group's blood, while the test group's lymphocyte and segmented neutrophil levels decreased by 1.65% (P<0.05) and 1.93% (P<0.05), respectively. These results demonstrated the high efficacy of the feed under investigation in preserving the immune status of breeding chickens during the first productivity phase. The chicken body exhibited a high level of antioxidant activity as evidenced by the rise in superoxide dismutase activity by 8.85% (P<0.05), the total amount of antioxidants by 21.66% (P<0.01), and the decrease in malonaldehyde by 13.52% (P<0.05) in the test group. Analysis of the microbiome of the cecum in the colon revealed an increase in bacteria of Bifidobacteriales and Lactobacillales by 46.93 (P<0.01) and 25.54% (P<0.01), as well as a rise in Ruminococcaceae by 15.87% (P<0.01), in the test group compared with the control group.