Effect of age and supplementation of rice bran oil and vitamin E on egg quality and composition in layers

Influence of age of hen and supplementation of rice bran oil and vitamin E on egg quality and physical composition was evaluated in Rhode Island Red layer chicken. The birds were given the mash feed formulated as per BIS standards in eight groups (T1-T8) using varying level of rice bran oil and vitamin E. Egg weight and egg length showed non-significant age differences while egg width and shape index have significant age differences. Specific gravity was higher during initial laying period but declined with advancement of age indicating decline in shell quality with advancement of age. Albumen weight and shell weight expressed as percentage of egg weight showed significant age differences (p≤0.05) but yolk weight showed non-significant age differences. The egg quality traits viz; egg weight, albumen weight, yolk diameter, yolk weight were influenced by the dietary supplementation of rice bran oil and vitamin E but egg length, width, specific gravity and shell weight were not influenced by dietary supplementation. During all ages highest egg weight was observed in T6 group fed 3% rice bran oil with vitamin E and lowest was observed in T4 group fed 1.5% rice bran oil with vitamin E at 28, 38 and 46 weeks of age. It indicates that the 3% Rice Bran Oil with Vitamin E has positive influence on egg weight throughout the evaluation. Specific gravity showed significant feed group differences only during 46 weeks of age. It was concluded that the egg quality and composition was influenced by the advancement of age and supplementation in feed with intermediate amounts of rice bran oil with vitamin E help to get larger eggs with better egg quality and composition.