The experiment was carried out to evaluate the effect of Azolla on the quality and cholesterol content of chicken eggs. A total of 240 eggs from different dietary groups of D1 (control), D2 (diet with 4% Azolla), D3 (diet with 8% Azolla) and D4 (commercial farming eggs) at different ages of the birds; A1 (168 days), A2 (196 days), A3 (224 days), A4 (252 days) and A5 (308 days) having 12 eggs/ diet/ age group were collected from an ongoing project “ Using Azolla in the diet of laying hen”, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University and commercial farms to measure egg quality traits. Accordingly, 32 and 8 eggs were collected to measure the dry matter and cholesterol content of eggs, respectively. The highest egg weight, albumen weight, yolk height and yolk width but the lowest eggshell weight and eggshell thickness were observed in D4, followed by D3, D2 and D1, respectively. Diet D3 and D2 showed higher albumen height, eggshell weight and eggshell thickness compared to D1 and D4. Of the two diets, D3 performed better than D2 in terms of albumen height, eggshell weight and eggshell thickness. The deepest egg yolk color was observed in D3, followed by D2, D4 and D1, respectively. Egg weight, albumen width, albumen height, yolk weight, yolk width, yolk height, eggshell thickness and yolk color were increased with the increase of the age of the birds (p<0.001), but decreased eggshell weight and egg yolk-albumen ratio with the increase of the age of the birds (p<0.01). Azolla increased dry matter (DM) but decreased moisture content of egg (p<0.01). The highest cholesterol was measured in D4 and the lowest in D3 and D2, and intermediate in D1. Hence, a lower level of cholesterol was observed in D3 compared to D2. Therefore, 8% Azolla increased the quality and dry matter and yolk color of the egg as well as reduced cholesterol content in egg yolk.
 

Download Full Text - PDF