Effect of Vitamin Supplementation on Egg Production, Egg Quality, and Mortality of Sasso Chickens

Introduction: Ethiopia has a huge poultry population that plays a role in rural development. However, feed shortage is a major problem. Vitamin supplementation in feed formulation is crucial to improve the productivity of poultry. The objective of this study was to evaluate extra doses of vitamin supplements in quality egg production. Methods: This experimental study was conducted on Sasso Ruby T chickens aged 22 weeks. The experimental and control groups each contained 60 hens. For the study group, extra doses of vitamins were added to the drinking water. Weekly observation was carried out for 3 months for a total of 12 observations. The effect of extra doses of vitamins on layers in terms of mortality, egg production, egg size, egg-specific gravity, and eggshell thickness was analyzed using SPSS 20 with t-tests. Results: Significant changes were observed for mortality (P<0.05), with mean mortality of 0.25 +/- 0.45 and 0.66 +/- 0.65 and general mortality of 5% and 13% in the study and control groups, respectively. Average egg production per week in the study group (279.5 +/- 3.80) was significantly (P<0.05) higher than the control group (256 +/- 4.81). However, no significant difference (P>0.05) was found for egg size between the groups: study group 59.99 +/- 0.92 g and control group 59.34 +/- 0.95 g. There was no significant variation (P>0.05) in average egg-specific gravity: study group 1.068 +/- 5.33 x10(-3) and control group 1.061 +/- 5.33x10(-3). Average eggshell thickness was significantly greater (P<0.05) in the study group(0.36 +/- 0.048 mm) than the control group (0.32 +/- 0.04 mm). Conclusion: We identified that extra vitamin supplements for layer chickens is very important to increase profitability in the poultry industry by decreasing mortality and increasing egg production.