The Effects of Different Levels of Ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc) and Turmeric (Curcuma longa Linn) Rhizomes Powder on Some Blood Metabolites and Production Performance Characteristics of Laying Hens

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of using different levels of Ginger rhizome powder (GRP) and Turmeric rhizome powder (TRP) on production performance and some blood metabolites in laying hens. Ninety 103-week old laying hens were divided into 5 treatments in a completely randomized design with 3 replicates and 6 birds in each cage. The birds were fed a corn-soybean meal based diet containing different concentrations of GRP (1 and 3%) and TRP (1 and 3%) and control (0 %). During 9 weeks of experimental period, the data of production parameters were collected. Some blood serum metabolites including, total cholesterol, glucose, uric acid, Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and Aspartate aminotransferase (AST), Calcium (Ca) and Phosphorous (P) were measured. Results indicated that the inclusion of GRP into the diets increased egg production percent, egg mass, feed intake whereas it decreased serum total cholesterol, AST and ALT significantly (P 0.05). Adding TRP at the 3% concentration to the diets significantly decreased serum total cholesterol, AST and ALT (P 0.05) but increased feed intake and egg production. The reduction of total cholesterol, AST and ALT (P 0.05) and blood uric acid (P 0.05) implied the non-toxic effect of GRP and TRP treatments on hepatic and renal tissues. As a result of this study, supplementation with ginger (GRP3%) might have some positive effects on production performance and some blood metabolites of the laying hens.