The Effects of Suplementation of Nigella Sativa Oil on Performance and Egg Fatty Acid Composition During the Late Laying Period in Hens

This research was conducted to determine effects of dietary Nigella sativa oil on performance, egg quality, blood metabolic profile and fatty acid composition of egg yolk of laying hens. Sixty four of 70 weeks old white Lohman LSL laying hens were randomly assigned to four groups equally (n = 16). Each treatment was replicated four times. Diets were prepared by adding 0,1.5 ,2.5, and 3.5 ml/kg Nigella sativa oil to basal diets. Dietary supplementation of Nigella sativa oil had no significant effect on feed intake, feed conversion ratio, egg weight, and egg production, Hough Unit, ratio of yolk, albumen and shell. The addition of 3.5 ml/kg Nigella sativa oil to the laying hens feed led to a significant decrease in the cholesterol ratio of the serum. It was found that serum globulin concentration increased significantly with supplementation of 2.5 ml/kg Nigella sativa oil. The addition of 2.5 and 3.5 ml/kg Nigella sativa oil to feed significantly (P<0.05) increased the monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA), eicosapentaenoic asit (EPA), docosahexaenoic asit (DHA), and n-3 content in the egg yolk. Consequently, it was determined that the addition of Nigella sativa oil did not effect performance values, however, it reduced cholesterol level of serum and n-6/n-3 ratio of egg yolk and increased the EPA, DHA and n-3 ratio of the egg yolk.