the effect of foeniculum vulgare essence on production performance, egg quality and reproductive parameters of laying hens

an experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of fennel essence on performance, egg quality and ovarian morphology of commercial laying eggs for ten weeks. in this experiment, one hundred and forty 30-wk-old commercial egg laying type hy-line (w36) were randomly assigned into 4 treatments with 5 replicates and 8 birds per each. treatments were a control (0.0% essence) and diets containing 200, 400 and 600 ppm fennel essence. performance parameters include egg weight and egg production was recorded daily and feed intake, fcr and egg quality parameters were measured weekly. at the end of the experiment, 2 birds of each replicate was randomly selected and slaughtered for analysis of ovarian morphology. different levels of fennel essence no significant effect on egg production. different levels of fennel essence no significant effect on egg production. levels of 200 and 400 ppm of fennel essence showed a significant increase in egg weight. levels of fennel essence had no significant effect on feed intake and fcr but it caused significant increase in yolk color and had significant effect on the properties of egg shell. levels of essence had no significant effect on the relative weight of the ovary, oviduct and stroma but 200 ppm of fennel essence had significant effect on weight of large yellow follicles. the results showed that the addition of fennel essence improved egg weight, egg shell and yolk color and had a significant effect on the large yellow follicles.