Effect of 25-Hydroxycholecalciferol with Different Vitamin D 3 Levels in the Hens Diet in the Rearing Period on Growth Performance, Bone Quality, Egg Production, and Eggshell Quality

Dongdong Li, Keying Zhang, Shiping Bai, Jianping Wang, Qiufeng Zeng, Huanwei Peng, Zuowei Su, Yue Xuan, Sharina Qi and Xuemei Ding
Additional contact information
Dongdong Li: Key Laboratory for Animal Disease-Resistance Nutrition of China, Ministry of Education, Institute of Animal Nutrition, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
Keying Zhang: Key Laboratory for Animal Disease-Resistance Nutrition of China, Ministry of Education, Institute of Animal Nutrition, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
Shiping Bai: Key Laboratory for Animal Disease-Resistance Nutrition of China, Ministry of Education, Institute of Animal Nutrition, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
Jianping Wang: Key Laboratory for Animal Disease-Resistance Nutrition of China, Ministry of Education, Institute of Animal Nutrition, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
Qiufeng Zeng: Key Laboratory for Animal Disease-Resistance Nutrition of China, Ministry of Education, Institute of Animal Nutrition, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
Huanwei Peng: Key Laboratory for Animal Disease-Resistance Nutrition of China, Ministry of Education, Institute of Animal Nutrition, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
Zuowei Su: Key Laboratory for Animal Disease-Resistance Nutrition of China, Ministry of Education, Institute of Animal Nutrition, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
Yue Xuan: Key Laboratory for Animal Disease-Resistance Nutrition of China, Ministry of Education, Institute of Animal Nutrition, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
Sharina Qi: Sichuan Shengdile Village Ecological Food Co., Ltd., Zitong, Mianyang 622150, China
Xuemei Ding: Key Laboratory for Animal Disease-Resistance Nutrition of China, Ministry of Education, Institute of Animal Nutrition, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China

Agriculture, 2021, vol. 11, issue 8, 1-12

Abstract: A study was conducted to evaluate the effect of 25-hydroxyvitamin D 3 (25-OHD) with different levels of vitamin D 3 (VD 3 ) during the rearing period (1–20 weeks) on laying hen performance, bone quality, and eggshell quality. A total of four hundred 1-day-old Lohman pullets were randomly allotted into a 2 × 2 factorial design with 2 levels of dietary VD 3 (300 and 2800 IU/kg) and 2 levels of dietary 25-OHD (0 and 56 μg/kg). Each treatment had five replicates of 20 hens each. Increasing the dietary VD 3 level (2800 vs. 300 IU/kg) tended to increase body weight uniformity (0.05 < p < 0.1) at 8 weeks. Dietary VD 3 levels and supplementation of 25-OHD during the growing period (1–20 weeks) did not improve the laying performance and eggshell quality (eggshell strength, eggshell thickness, and eggshell relative weight) during the laying period ( p > 0.05). Compared with the 300 IU/kg VD 3 group, the 2800 IU/kg VD 3 group showed higher serum calcium concentration and keel length at 10 weeks ( p < 0.05). The addition of 25-OHD significantly increased serum calcium and 25-OHD concentration at 10 and 20 weeks and keel calcified rate at 20 weeks ( p < 0.05). Increasing dietary VD 3 level (2800 vs. 300 IU/kg) increased tibia ash and phosphorus content at 10 weeks, tibia strength at 72 weeks ( p < 0.05), and tended to increase tibia ash content at 72 weeks, tibia calcium content and tibia strength at 20 weeks (0.05 < p < 0.1). Dietary supplementation with 25-OHD increased tibia ash content at 10 weeks, tibia calcium content and tibia strength at 20 weeks ( p < 0.05), and tended to increase tibia ash content at 72 weeks (0.05 < p < 0.1). Overall, the results gathered in this study indicate that dietary supplementation of high levels of VD 3 and 25-OHD during the growing period improved the tibia quality of laying hens during the early and later laying period, but had no effect on laying performance and eggshell quality during the laying period.

Keywords: laying hens; vitamin D 3; 25-hydroxyvitamin D 3; bone quality; eggshell quality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/11/8/698/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/11/8/698/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:11:y:2021:i:8:p:698-:d:600928

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().