title: Improving productive performance and mitigating harmful emissions from laying hen excreta via feeding on graded levels of corn DDGS with or without Bacillus subtilis probiotic.
abstract: An experiment that included some inclusions of corn distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) with or without supplementation of probiotic bacteria to Hi-sex Brown laying hen diets was conducted to evaluate the impacts on performance, egg quality, blood metabolites and nitrogen and phosphorus excretion in the manure. A total of 216 twenty-two-week-old Hi-sex Brown laying hens were randomly divided into eight treatment groups in a factorial design (4 × 2) experiment, which included four levels of DDGS (0, 50, 100 and 150 g/kg diet) plus two levels of Bacillus subtilis probiotic (0 or 1000 mg/kg diet, with a concentration of 1.5 × 108 CFU/g of dried product). The experimental period extended from 22 to 34 weeks of age. The results showed that linear increase in DDGS level up to 150 g/kg improved (p ≤ 0.01) the values of feed consumption, egg shape index and yolk colour compared to the control and other treatment groups. Inclusion of dietary DDGS up to 150 g/kg in layer diets led to a significant decrease in egg mass and a significant increase in Haugh unit score compared to other groups. In the bacillus group, the values of feed conversion, egg weight and egg mass enhanced by 6.45, 3.27 and 7.60% respectively compared with the control diet. Total protein, albumin, triglycerides, cholesterol, calcium and ammonia in serum were significantly (p ≤ 0.01) influenced by DDGS inclusion. The excreted nitrogen decreased by 8.62 and 4.31% in hens fed 50 or 100 g/kg of DDGS respectively, while excreted phosphorous decreased by 3.33, 7.22 and 10.56% in hens fed 50, 100 or 150 g/kg of DDGS respectively as compared to the control group. It could be concluded that increasing DDGS inclusion level in the diet up to 10% and the supplementation of probiotic bacteria improved the productive performance of laying hens and mitigated the harmful emissions from chicken manure; this means better production within environmentally friendly conditions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Poultry, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt.
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Abd El-Hack
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt.
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Mahgoub
authors.affiliation: Department of Poultry, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alagawany
authors.affiliation: Department of Poultry, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt.
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Ashour
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D000821:Animal Feed / Q000032:analysis; D000824:Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D000818:Animals; D001412:Bacillus subtilis; D002645:Chickens / Q000502:physiology*; D004032:Diet / Q000662:veterinary; D004531:Eggs / Q000592:standards; D005243:Feces / Q000737:chemistry*; D005260:Female; D010058:Oviposition / Q000502:physiology; D019936:Probiotics / Q000008:administration & dosage; D003313:Zea mays / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants
keywords: 
  DDGS
  ; bacillus; blood; egg quality; layers; manure; production