Quality of the eggs of commercial layers fed with sugarcane dry yeast

Abstract

This work aimed at evaluating the effect of the addition of dry yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) to the laying diet on the quality of the eggs. One hundred and twenty chickens with 33 weeks of age were used in a randomized block design, with five treatments (0, 7, 14, 21 and 28% of dried yeast), four replicates and six birds per pen. Diets similar in protein (18% of crude protein), energy (2,800 kcal of metabolizable energy/kg), calcium (3.8%) and in phosphorus (0.38% of available phosphorus) were formulated based on corn and soybean meal. The levels of dry yeast did not affect egg weight (64.35±0.85 g), albumen height (7.95±0.22 mm), Haugh unit (87.42±1.31), total yolk solids (50.86±0.20%), ether extract of yolk (30.74±0.26%), yolk protein (16.92±0.16%), egg specific gravity (1.0912±0.001 g/mL), shell weight (6.67±0.08 g) and shell thickness (0.4671±0.003 mm). Quadratic effect was observed for the variable yolk color in the third laying cycle. The inclusion of dry yeast up to 28% provided increase on yolk color and proved to be economicaly viable.