Effects of sumac and turmeric as feed additives on performance, egg quality traits, and blood parameters of laying hens

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of sumac and turmeric on performance, egg quality traits, and blood parameters of laying hens. Forty Lohman Brown hens at 30 weeks of age were distributed into four groups, consisting of five replicates with two hens in each. The experiment lasted for 42 days. Laying hens were fed different basal diets in treatment groups and control groups. The groups consisted of hens fed a basal diet with 0.5% sumac, a basal diet with 0.5% turmeric, and a basal diet with 0.25% sumac + 0.25% turmeric. Hens were given ad libitum access to feed and water during the experiment. The results revealed that there were no statistically significant differences in terms of final body weight, egg production, egg weight, and feed intake after the groups were fed according to the diets as 0.5% sumac, 0.5% turmeric, and 0.25% sumac + 0.25% turmeric. Addition of turmeric increased egg production and egg weight, but reduced the feed conversion ratio compared with the control group. On the other hand, dietary supplementation with sumac decreased egg weight. Shape index, yolk index, albumen index, Haugh unit, and yolk color parameters were also not affected by dietary supplementation of turmeric and sumac. When layers were fed the 0.25% sumac + 0.25% turmeric-supplemented diet, yolk index was higher in number, but Haugh unit and albumen index were lower. Dietary addition of sumac and turmeric does not have any negative influence on performance and egg quality traits of laying hens. Dietary treatments do not significantly affect blood serum cholesterol, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels. With the supplementation of turmeric, AST and ALT levels are higher in number among all the groups. Dietary sumac and turmeric can be added at 0.5% level to laying hen rations without changing animal performance.