Effects of dietary supplementation of Copper Sulphate and Copper Oxide on some egg quality parameters of laying hens

Abstract

A total of two hundred and twenty-four (224) Bovan Nera pullets of 20 weeks old were used for the 12-week experiment to determine the implications of two sources of inorganic copper supplementation in layers’ diets. They were divided into 8 groups of twenty-eight (28) birds per treatment. Eight (8) isocaloric and isonitrogenous experimental diets of 17.63 % Crude Protein and 2592.80 kcal.kg-1 Metabolizable Energy were provided, each was supplemented with Copper Sulphate and Copper Oxide at four levels of inclusion (0, 100, 200 and 300 mg.kg-1) and the pullets were randomly assigned to the diets in a 2 x 4 factorial experiment. Each treatment was replicated seven (7) times with 4 birds per replicate. All data collected were, therefore, subjected to 2 x 4 factorial analyses of variance. It was observed that the interaction of the different levels of inclusion of the two sources of copper had a significant (p < 0.05) effect on all the external egg qualities except the shell ratio. The different levels of inclusion with the two sources of copper also had a significant (p < 0.05) influence on the albumen height, albumen weight, yolk length, yolk index and egg mass. It can therefore be concluded that the hen could tolerate the two copper sources up to 300 mg.kg-1 without any deleterious effects on the egg qualities.