the effect of red pepper (capsicum annuum) and marigold flower (tageteserectus) powder on egg production, egg yolk color and some blood metabolites of laying hens

an experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of using different levels of red pepper powder (rp) and marigold flower powder (mf) on egg production, egg yolk color andsome blood metabolites in laying hens. ninety, 103-weeks old laying hens were divided into 5 treatments groups of 6 birds in each cage with 3 replicates in a completely randomized design. the birds were fed a corn-soybean meal based diet containing different concentrations of rp (1 and 3%) and mf (1 and 3%) along with a control / untreated group. during 9 weeks of experimental period egg production, egg quality and quantity parameters were recorded. the blood samples were taken at 14, 28 and 42 days of experiment. the white blood cell counts and some blood metabolites were measured. the egg yolk colors were measured using fan roche methods. there were no significant differences among treatments for egg quality traits but the yolk color changed in treated group compared with controls (p>0.01). the highest yolk color was obtained in 3% rp (with 13.33 roche fan score). effect of rp and mf powder on total blood leukocyte counts was not different significantly in laying hen, but there was a significant effect of rp and mf powder on eosinophil count (p