The Influence of Vitamin C over the Production Performances of the Laying Hens in Conditions of Thermal Stress
Goce Cilev, Ivana Crnec, Dragan Sefer, Radmila Markovic, Ljupche Kochoski, Saso Stojanovski, Nikola Pacinovski
Abstract: The global warming is topical on a global level today. In a parallel line with it the number of scientific
researches which demonstrate the negative effect of high temperature over production performances, health and well being of the animals is increasing. Although the hens are homeothermic and keep constant body temperature, in comparison to the other home animals, they are more sensitive towards the temperature changes of the environment and thus more liable to developing a thermal stress. Consecutively the global warming, represents a direct threat to the poultry production. Having in mind that annually in the world 1 trillion and 300 billion eggs are produced and that they are highly nutritive food which the human nutrition does not have analog replacement, the finding of methods for overcoming the thermal stress and keeping the production at a level that satisfies the public consumption is of vital importance. Our aim is to make a correlation between the vitamin C as a food supplement and the productivity of laying hens in conditions of thermal stress. The research is carried out in the poultry farm ‘Beli Most’ – Bitola, North Macedonia and 13200, thirteen-month-laying-hens of Isa Brown type took part. The research lasted for 40 days and was conducted in two parts. In the first part i.e. the first 20 days the daily laying at average daily temperature of 23.84 Celsius degrees was followed. In the following twenty days the daily laying was followed again, but this time at an average daily temperature of 25.54 Celsius degrees and vitamin C as a food supplement. The vitamin C was added in the amount of one kilogram to one ton. In the first part of the research the average number of daily laid eggs was 11847 or in total 236940 eggs for all 20 days. The maximum number of daily laid eggs was 12660, and the minimum was 11250. In the second part, the average number of daily laid eggs was 11800 or in totals 236000 eggs for all 20 days. The maximum number of daily laid eggs was 13200, and the minimum was 10140. From the received results it can concluded that the increase of ambience temperature for 1.7 Celsius degrees even with the additional vitamin C the production went down for 40 eggs daily. In any case that reduction is insignificant. The absence of significant difference between the productive performances in the first and the second part, the most probably is due to the protective influence of the vitamin C.
researches which demonstrate the negative effect of high temperature over production performances, health and well being of the animals is increasing. Although the hens are homeothermic and keep constant body temperature, in comparison to the other home animals, they are more sensitive towards the temperature changes of the environment and thus more liable to developing a thermal stress. Consecutively the global warming, represents a direct threat to the poultry production. Having in mind that annually in the world 1 trillion and 300 billion eggs are produced and that they are highly nutritive food which the human nutrition does not have analog replacement, the finding of methods for overcoming the thermal stress and keeping the production at a level that satisfies the public consumption is of vital importance. Our aim is to make a correlation between the vitamin C as a food supplement and the productivity of laying hens in conditions of thermal stress. The research is carried out in the poultry farm ‘Beli Most’ – Bitola, North Macedonia and 13200, thirteen-month-laying-hens of Isa Brown type took part. The research lasted for 40 days and was conducted in two parts. In the first part i.e. the first 20 days the daily laying at average daily temperature of 23.84 Celsius degrees was followed. In the following twenty days the daily laying was followed again, but this time at an average daily temperature of 25.54 Celsius degrees and vitamin C as a food supplement. The vitamin C was added in the amount of one kilogram to one ton. In the first part of the research the average number of daily laid eggs was 11847 or in total 236940 eggs for all 20 days. The maximum number of daily laid eggs was 12660, and the minimum was 11250. In the second part, the average number of daily laid eggs was 11800 or in totals 236000 eggs for all 20 days. The maximum number of daily laid eggs was 13200, and the minimum was 10140. From the received results it can concluded that the increase of ambience temperature for 1.7 Celsius degrees even with the additional vitamin C the production went down for 40 eggs daily. In any case that reduction is insignificant. The absence of significant difference between the productive performances in the first and the second part, the most probably is due to the protective influence of the vitamin C.
Keywords: laying hens; production performance; thermal stress; vitamin C
Date published: 2020-06-05
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