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A 16-wk feeding experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of a prebiotic, isomaltooligosaccharide (IMO), a probiotic, PrimaLac®, and their combination as a synbiotic on the chemical compositions of egg yolks and the egg quality of laying hens. One hundred and sixty 16-wk-old Hisex Brown pullets were randomly assigned to 4 dietary treatments: (i) basal diet (control), (ii) basal diet + 1% IMO (PRE), (iii) basal diet + 0.1% PrimaLac® (PRO), and (iv) basal diet + 1% IMO + 0.1% PrimaLac® (SYN). PRE, PRO, or SYN supplementation not only significantly (P < 0.05) decreased the egg yolk cholesterol (24- and 28-wk-old) and total saturated fatty acids (SFA; 28-, 32-, and 36-wk-old), but also significantly (P < 0.05) increased total unsaturated fatty acids (UFA; 28-, 32-, and 36-wk-old), total omega 6 and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), including linoleic and alpha-linolenic acid levels in the eggs (28-wk-old). However, the total lipids, carotenoids, and tocopherols in the egg yolks were similar among all dietary treatments in the 24-, 28-, 32-, and 36-wk-old hens. Egg quality (Haugh unit, relative weights of the albumen and yolk, specific gravity, shell thickness, and yolk color) was not affected by PRE, PRO, or SYN supplementation. The results indicate that supplementations with IMO and PrimaLac® alone or in combination as a synbiotic might be useful for improving the cholesterol content and modifying the fatty acid compositions of egg yolk without affecting the quality of eggs from laying hens between 24 and 36 wk of age.

This study investigated the effects of prebiotic, probiotic and synbiotic on the performance, cecal microbial diversity and yolk cholesterol content of laying hens. One hundred and sixty Hisex Brown hens, aged 20 weeks of age, were randomly allotted to four diets: basal diet (control), basal diet + 1% prebiotic isomaltooligosaccharide (IMO) (prebiotic diet), basal diet + 0.1% probiotic PrimaLac® (probiotic diet), and basal diet + 1% IMO + 0.1% PrimaLac® (synbiotic diet). Cecal microbial populations and community of hens were assessed by 16S rRNA gene sequencing and quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) methods, respectively, at 36 weeks of age. Cholesterol content of egg yolk was analyzed by gas chromatography at 24, 28, 32 and 36 weeks of age. The results showed that the body weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio (FCR), egg production, egg weight and egg mass were significantly (P<0.05) improved in hens fed prebiotic, probiotic or synbiotic diet from 20-36 weeks of age. Sequencing results revealed that the prebiotic, probiotic or synbiotic feeding increased the abundance of Lactobacillusand decreased the abundance of Enterobacteriaceae. The abundance of Bifidobacterium was increased in prebiotic- or synbiotic-supplemented hens. At 36 weeks of age, qPCR results showed that prebiotic, probiotic or synbiotic feeding significantly (P<0.05) increased the populations of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, but decreased the populations of Enterobacteriaceae and Escherichia coli. Supplementation of prebiotic, probiotic or synbiotic had significantly (P<0.05) lowered the yolk cholesterol content of laying hens at 24 and 28 weeks of age, but not at 32 and 36 weeks of age. The results of the study indicate that prebiotic, probiotic or synbiotic supplementation had similar positive effects on the performance, cecal microbial diversity and cholesterol content of egg yolk in laying hens at 20-36 weeks of age.

This study evaluated the effects of prebiotic, probiotic and synbiotic on the performance of laying hens and the cholesterol contents of their egg yolks. One hundred and sixty Hisex Brown hens, aged 20 weeks old, were randomly assigned to four dietary treatments: basal diet (control), basal diet + prebiotic, basal diet + probiotic, and basal diet + prebiotic + probiotic (synbiotic). The results showed that there were no significant differences (P>0.05) among the treatments in the feed intake, feed efficiency, egg mass, egg production and egg weight of 20-27 weeks old layers. However, at 28-35 weeks old, these parameters improved significantly (P<0.05) in the prebiotic-, probiotic- and synbiotic-fed hens compared to the control hens. The egg yolk cholesterol content of the prebiotic-, probiotic- and synbiotic-fed hens were significantly (P<0.05) lower than that of the control hens at 27 weeks of age, but there were no significant differences (P>0.05) among treatments at 35 weeks of age. This study showed that prebiotic, probiotic or synbiotic improved the performance of layers from 28-35 weeks of age and reduced egg yolk cholesterol at 27 weeks of age.

Oil palm fronds (OPF) are one of the main by-products of the oil palm industry in Malaysia. It contains about 38.5% crude fibre with ME values of about 5.65 MJ/kg dry matter. OPF has great potential to be utilized as a roughage source or as a component in a complete feed for ruminant animals. This paper briefly reviews the availability of OPF in Malaysia and its importance in the local beef and dairy industry. About 26 million metric tonnes of OPF are produced on dry matter basis annually during pruning and replanting operations in the plantations. The nutritive value of OPF and studies to improve its feeding value is highlighted. The optimum level of inclusion for ruminant feeding is 30% and improvement to intake and digestibility can be further enhanced with addition of other oil-palm by-products. Performances of beef and dairy cattle fed fresh OPF or as silage, pellets and cubes are shown. Good quality OPF silage can be produced without using any additive and the significant improvement on the rate of growth and milk yield were shown. With good formulations, OPF based diets can allow live weight gains of between 600-850 g/day and for local crossbred dairy animals, milk yield of about 11.1 to 20.3 liter/day can be obtained. Pellet based on ground OPF seemed to be less well utilized for ruminant feeding due to its smaller particle size. OPF based cubes which have longer particle size is more suitable for beef and dairy cattle. Long-term feeding of OPF based feeds have been shown to produce good quality carcasses, and the meat is safe for consumption.