Production of zinc enriched designer eggs through dietary supplementation

• Main Authors: P.S. Megha, V. Ramnath, K. Raji, V. Babitha, Binoj Chacko
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Director of Academics and Research, Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University 2021-01-01
• Series: Journal of Veterinary and Animal Sciences
• Subjects: designer eggs; zinc sulphate
• Online Access: https://www.jvas.in/public_html/upload/article_file/article_file_qutk0z.pdf?t=qutk0z

Designer eggs have high market demand because of the consumers’ willingness to purchase them owing to its’ nutritional qualities additional to regular eggs. The current study was conducted to produce zinc enriched eggs by supplementing laying hens’ diet with required levels of zinc as inorganic zinc sulphate (75mg/kg). Thirty-two number of crossbred (White Leghorn N strain and Desi) layer birds were given zinc enriched diet from 29 weeks of age for 12 weeks. The concentration of zinc in egg of birds supplemented with zinc diet was significantly higher (p<0.01) than that of unsupplemented group. The egg zinc concentration of supplemented birds was elevated from 33.36±0.89 ppm (control group) to 40.85±0.47 ppm (supplemented group)