Effects of Dietary Inclusion of Ground Pits of Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera) with or without Probiotic Yeasture® on Productive Performance, Egg Traits and Some Blood Parameters of Laying Hens

A study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary inclusion of ground pits of date palm (DP) (Phoenix dactylifera) supplementing with a commercial probiotic mixture (Yeasture®) on the performance, egg quality characteristics, blood parameters, and excreta pH of laying hens. A total of 144 Lohmann LSL-Lite laying hens were randomly divided in 24 cages. Based on a 3×2 factorial arrangement of treatments in a completely randomized design with four replicates, 6 iso-caloric and iso-nitrogenous experimental diets (ME=2720 kcal/kg and CP=150 g/kg) including: I-corn-soybean meal-based control-1 diet, II-corn-soybean meal-oil-based control-2 diet, and III-corn-soybean meal-based diet included 210 g/kg DP with or without probiotic (0.0 and 0.05 g/kg) were formulated. Dietary treatment had no significant effect on feed intake, feed conversion ratio and body weight as well as egg production and egg mass (P>.05). Probiotic supplementation did not significantly affect laying performance. In the first egg sampling (wk3) egg index, Haugh unit, egg gravity, and egg abnormality were not significantly affected by dietary treatments (P>.05). Shell weight and shell thickness were decreased by diet inclusion of DP (P=.05). Dietary treatment did not have significant effect on blood parameters except for triglycerides and high density lipoprotein (HDL) contents which was increased by adding probiotic to diet in compared to the control groups (P=.05). Dietary combination of DP and probiotic significantly decreased excreta pH in compared to other groups (P=.05). From the results of the present study, it can be concluded that DP can be included in diets of laying hens up to 21% with no substantial adverse effect on their performance and egg quality traits.