Effects of Ligustrum lucidum on egg production, egg quality, and caecal microbiota of hens during the late laying period

This study was conducted to determine the effects of diet supplementation of laying hens with Ligustrum lucidum (LL) on egg production, egg quality and caecal microbiota. A total of 360 72-week-old Hy-Line Brown laying hens were divided into three groups with four replicates of 30 birds each. The laying hens were fed with basal diet (control group), basal diet + 1% LL (group I) and basal diet + 2% LL (group II). The experiment lasted for 45 d. Eggs were collected daily and caecal samples were collected at the end of the experiment. Results showed that dietary supplementation with LL did not affect the average daily egg weight, the average daily feed intake, the cracked egg rate, the mortality and the egg quality (p>.05). However, groups I and II showed significantly increased laying rate and decreased feed/egg ratio (p <.05). The differences in caecal microbiota between group II and the control group were significant. The relative abundance of Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Saccharibacteria and Verrucomicrobia at the phylum level; Ruminococcaceae, Rikenellaceae, Acidaminococcaceae, unclassified_Bacteroidales, S24-7 group and ODP1230B8.23 at the family level; RC9 gut group, Phascolarctobacterium, unclassified_Bacteroidales, Butyricicoccus, norank_f__Ruminococcaceae, Ruminococcaceae_UCG-014, coprostanoligenes group and Ruminococcaceae_UCG-005 at the genus level in group II changed significantly compared with that in the control group (p <.05). Dietary supplementation with 1% and 2% LL could improve the laying performance and affect the caecal microbial community structure of laying hens during the late laying period.