Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of garlic and tea on the performance, egg traits and laying parameters of laying hens. Five groups of black leghorn hens, Yafa breed (five birds per group) and aged 21 weeks were used for this experiment. Each group was fed basal diet (layers mash) supplemented with garlic at 1% garlic powder (group 1), 2% garlic powder (group 2), 1% black tea (group 3), 2% back tea (group 4) and a combination of 2% garlic and 2% tea (making 4% supplementation, group 5). Feeding was done for 4 weeks after a one week acclimatization period on test and control feeds. The effects of supplementation on the number and weight of eggs layed, the weight of hens and the weight of egg yolk were determined. Also determined were the total triglycerides, HDL-, LDL- and total cholesterol content of egg yolk. Feeding of hens for 4 weeks with test and control diets resulted in non-significant changes (P > 0.05) in the weights of birds, egg and egg yolk. All the garlic supplemented feeds resulted in significant reductions (P < 0.05) of total cholesterol, total triglyceride, LDL- and HDL-cholesterol. With exception of the 1% tea supplemented diet, the other tea supplemented diet resulted in significant reductions in the egg yolk concentration of the cholesterols tested. 1% tea supplementation had no significant effect on LDL-cholesterol concentration of egg yolk (P > 0.05).  The combination of garlic and tea resulted in significant reductions of total- LDL- and HDL-cholesterol (P < 0.05) but not total triglycerides (P > 0.05). The control diets had in most cases non-significant effects on the lipid parameters tested. The results show that garlic and tea have great potential when low cholesterol egg is desired.

Key words: Garlic, black tea, cholesterol, triglycerides, egg yolk.