The Effect of Different Levels of Tomato Pomace With or Without Multi–Enzyme on Performance and Egg Traits of Laying Hens

This experiment was designed to evaluate the effects of different levels of tomato pomace (DTP) with dif-ferent multi enzymes on the performance and egg quality of laying hens at the first phase of production. In this experiment 432 hens were used in a completely randomized design in a factorial arrangement of 4×4, with four levels of tomato pomace (0, 4, 8 and 12%) and different enzymes (without enzyme, Natozyme, Rovabio and Kemin) with three replicates of 12 laying hens in each replication. These rations were fed for a 12-wk period by hens (Hy-Line W-36) beginning at 33 wk of age. The results showed that the inclusion of DTP significantly affected egg weight (g), egg production (%) and difference between means of treatments were significant (P < 0.05). Egg mass (g), feed intake (g), feed conversion ratio (kg/kg) and egg quality traits (specific gravity, yolk Index, Eggshell thickness (mm) shell weight (g), Haugh unit) were not affected with DTP and different enzymes. There were no significant interactions between the DTP and enzyme supple-mentation on egg production and egg quality. There was a significant improvement in the egg yolk color in treatments containing DTP. The inclusion of DTP, resulted in a decrease of cholesterol in the serum (P < 0.05). Moreover, the inclusion of DTP had no effect on yolk cholesterol. A suggested maximum inclu-sion level of 8% TP, based on these data can be used in commercial diets, but it is speculated that the incor-poration of multi enzyme was not effective on improvement of DTP effects.