the effects of different levels of portulaca oleracea, medicinal plant, on performance, egg quality, blood biochemical and immunity parameters of mature laying hens

this experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of different levels of portulaca oleracea (po),medicinal plant, on performance, egg traits, blood biochemical and immunity parameters of laying hens. one hundred eighty hi-line (w-36 strain) mature laying hens 65 up to 76 weeks of age were allotted in a completely randomized design consisting of 5 treatments and 3 replicates (12 birds per replicate). treatment groups consisted of a control group (1) with no po ­supplementation and experimental groups 2, 3, 4 and 5 which contained 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5% and 2.0% of po­ powder, respectively. using different levels of po­ significantly affected the performance, egg traits, blood biochemical and immunity parameters of laying hens (p