Effect of direct fed microbial in layer diets, on egg laying performance and health response of indigenous Ghanaian guinea fowls (Numida meleagris).

The aim of the present experiment was to examine the effect of direct fed microbial (DFM) on egg laying performance and health response of indigenous Ghanaian guinea fowls (Numida meleagris). A total of 216, 9-wk-old guinea keets (already sexed) were randomly assigned to 4 DFM administering treatments. These included control, daily, 3 consecutive days per week, and 7 d repeated every other week at 1.5 mL/L through water for 30 wk. Feed intake, body weight gain, feed conversion ratio, egg weight, yolk weight, egg albumen weight, shell weight, shell thickness, mortality, hematological and serum biochemical parameters were recorded. Birds on daily DFM treatment consumed the least feed (P = 0.007) with an increased weight gain (P = 0.009). Hen-day egg production, eggshell thickness and eggshell weight, albumen weight, albumen height, yolk weight, and yolk height were not different between treatments (P > 0.05). Egg weight was higher in daily supplementation of DFM in water than other treatments (P < 0.0001). Serum albumin was higher (P = 0.024) in daily DFM treatment, whereas serum low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol concentration was reduced (P = 0.017). The results showed that supplementing DFM daily at 1.5 mL/L of water resulted in increased total proteins and albumin as well as reduced LDL cholesterol. It could be concluded that these health indices increased the quality of guinea fowls eggs and may have improved the hatchability of eggs in the 1.5 mL/L DFM supplementation and there the supplementing DFM daily at 1.5 mL/L is recommended in Guinea fowls to increase hatchling numbers.