Effect of dietary folic acid supplementation on folic acid content,egg quality and egg yield of captive Huabei Chai chickens.

The experiment was to study the effect of dietary folic acid on content of folic acid in egg yolk, egg quality and egg yield of Huabei Chai chickens. A total of 315 47-week-old Huabei Chai chickens were randomly divided into seven groups with three replicates in each group. The chickens in control group (group 1) were fed with basal diet. Group 2 to group 7 were experimental groups, the diets were supplemented with 300, 600, 1 200, 1 800, 2 400 and 3 600 mg/kg folic acid, respectively. The pre-experiment lasted for 7 d, and the formal experiment lasted for 28 d. On the 7th, 14th and 28th day of the formal test, 35 eggs were randomly selected in each group, 15 eggs were used for the determination of egg quality and 20 eggs were used for the determination of folic acid content. The results showed that folic acid content reached saturation, the highest was 1.58 μg/g, and decreased with the increase of folic acid supplemental concentration and feeding time. Folic acid had no significant effect on egg yolk weight, egg yolk color and egg shape index. Dietary folic acid only had a fluctuating effect on egg production. The experiment indicates that the addition of folic acid to diet can significantly increased the content of folic acid in egg yolk, which has a certain impact on egg weight, egg white weight, eggshell weight, eggshell color, eggshell thickness, relative density and Hartmann unit, but has little impact on egg yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]