Influence of linseed oil on performance and egg quality of semi-heavy laying hens

This experiment was carried out to evaluate the influence of the linseed oil addition in replacement of soybean oil in laying hens diets on performance and internal and external egg quality. A total of 192 laying hens Bovans Godline line with 29 week-old, were distributed to six treatments, that consisted of a control diet (without vegetal oil) and of five diets containing 2% of linseed oil in replacement of 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% of soybean oil, generating levels of 0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 % of linseed oil in the diets. The evaluated parameters were: production (PROD), egg weight (EW) and mass (EM), feed: egg mass ratio (FEM) and feed: egg dozen ratio (FED), albumen, yolk and shell weights and percentages, specific gravity, albumen and yolk dry matter, ashes and protein, yolk cholesterol and coloration. The production, EW, EM, FEM and FED, as for internal and external egg quality, were not influenced by the linseed oil levels in the diet. Likewise, no effect was observed on egg chemical composition and only yolk coloration was intensified with the levels above 1% of linseed oil in the diet. The addition of up to 2% of linseed oil on diet did not alter the performance on semi-heavy laying hens, and the internal and external egg quality and cholesterol.