Perfomance and Egg Quality Parameters of Laying Hens Fed Different Dietary Inclusion Levels of Bitter Kola (Garcinia kola)

The effects of different inclusion levels of Garcinia kola on performance and egg quality parameters of layers were investigated for 8 weeks. A total of 40 Issa brown point-of-lay birds at 20 weeks of age were assigned randomly into 5 treatments, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 with 8 birds/treatment and 4 birds/replicate. Birds on each treatment were fed different diets containing Garcinia kola at 0 g/1000 g, 10 g/1000 g, 20 g/1000 g, 40 g/1000 g and 80 g/1000 g/kg weight of feed. The control diets did not contain Gracinia kola. The trial lasted for 8 weeks. There were no significant differences (p>0.05) in egg weight, yolk weight, yolk index, yolk length, yolk colour, yolk albumen ratio, shell weight, shell thickness and Haugh unit of the eggs. There were significant differences (p<0.05) in performances, albumen weight and yolk height. This study showed that Garcinia kola did not pose any deleterious effects to the birds even at 80 g/1000 g/kg inclusion level but performance and egg quality were best at 10 g/1000 g/kg of dietary inclusion.