Table 1.
Effect of dietary arsenic exposure on laying performance and egg quality.1
| Items | Dietary arsenic dosage, mg/kg |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.95 | 20.78 | 40.67 | 60.25 | |
| Laying performance | ||||
| EP, % | 83.38 ± 0.75a | 83.33 ± 0.61a | 83.56 ± 0.65a | 80.04 ± 0.74b |
| EW, g | 62.27 ± 0.69a | 61.63 ± 0.59a | 61.60 ± 0.83a | 57.77 ± 0.85b |
| Feed intake, g/day per hen | 120.18 ± 2.79 | 122.80 ± 1.09 | 124.29 ± 0.93 | 119.13 ± 1.26 |
| FCR, g of feed/g of egg | 1.93 ± 0.05 | 1.99 ± 0.02 | 2.02 ± 0.04 | 2.06 ± 0.03 |
| Egg quality | ||||
| Haugh unit | 88.73 ± 0.75a | 83.18 ± 1.47a | 79.82 ± 1.41b | 80.00 ± 2.08b |
| Albumen height, mm | 8.28 ± 0.12a | 7.53 ± 0.10b | 7.19 ± 0.10b | 6.48 ± 0.22c |
| Yolk color | 7.18 ± 0.21 | 7.23 ± 0.18 | 7.03 ± 0.25 | 7.19 ± 0.18 |
| Eggshell strength, kgf/m2 | 4.19 ± 0.05a | 3.79 ± 0.09b | 3.60 ± 0.08b | 3.12 ± 0.11c |
| Eggshell thickness, mm | 0.37 ± 0.01 | 0.37 ± 0.01 | 0.35 ± 0.01 | 0.37 ± 0.01 |
a–cMeans with different superscript letters differ significantly in the same row (P < 0.05).
Abbreviations: EP, hen-day egg production; EW, egg weight; FCR, feed conversion ratio; kgf/m2, kilogram-force/m2.
1
Values are the means ± SE (n = 6).