Effects of dietary xylooligosaccharides on the performance, egg quality, nutrient digestibility and plasma parameters of laying hens

This study was conducted to determine the effects of dietary supplementation with xylooligosaccharides (XOS) on the laying performance, egg quality, nutrient digestibility and plasma parameters of Lohmann hens. A total of 1080 Lohmann laying hens (28 weeks of age) were assigned to six treatment diets that included XOS at concentrations of 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 or 0.5 g/kg for 8 weeks. Each treatment had six replicates with 10 cages (3 birds/cage). Egg production, egg weight and feed intake were recorded daily. Egg quality traits were recorded every 4 weeks. Plasma parameters were evaluated, and a metabolic experiment using 36 birds from each replicate was conducted at the end of the study. The results show that XOS supplementation had no effect on the production performance but could significantly improve the quality of the eggshell; eggshell thickness and eggshell relative weight showed a linear or quadratic response to increasing dietary XOS (P