PERFORMANCE AND EGG QUALITY OF COMMERCIAL LAYING HENS FED GROUND ANNATO SEED (Bixa orellana L.) IN THE DIET

Abstract

The annato can be used as a source of natural pigments to provide improvement in the color of egg yolk of laying hens, given the well of consumer demand for safer food. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of inclusion of ground annatto seed on performance and egg quality of hens fed diets based on sorghum. We used 336 birds at 40 weeks of age, randomly distributed in blocks with seven treatments and six replicates of eight birds per plot. The treatments were: T1-tion of production based on corn and soybean meal, T2-tion of production based on sorghum and soybean meal, T3, T4, T5, T6 and T7-tion of the production base of sorghum with 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5% of ground annatto seed, respectively. We evaluated the performance characteristics and quality of eggs. No effect of use of ground annatto seeds on broiler performance. There was also no effect on egg quality, except for the color of the yolk, where the increase in the inclusion of ground annatto seeds linearly improved the color of egg yolk.