Effect of mixture essential oil of cashew nut shell and castor on performance, blood parameters and egg quality

Todays, use of antibiotics as growth-promoting in poultry production has been restricted in some countries because of antibiotic resistance and antibiotic residue problem. Therefore, tendency to search alternative components for antibiotics such as natural phytogenic additives was increasing. Spices and essential oils and extracts derived from herbs are receiving much attention as feed additive in poultry nutrition over the past decade (Steiner et al, 2010). Commercial feed additive as named Essential is a mixture of herbal essential oil derived from castor oil (Ricinus Communis) and cashew nut shell liquid. Ricin oleic acid is the main and active molecule in the castor oil and has been shown to have anti-inflammatory (Vieira etal, 2001) and antimicrobial actions (Novak etal, 1961). The shell of the cashew nut (Anacardium occidentale L.) is known as “cashew nut shell liquid” and constitutes nearly 25% of the total weight of the nut. This oil is mainly composed of anacardic acid (3-n-pentadecylsalicylic acid), cardanol (3-n-pentadecylphenol), cardol (5npentadecylresorcinol), and methylcardol (2-methyl-5-npentadecylresorcinol) (Orwa etal, 2009). Murakami et al., (2014) showed that the addition of essential oil derived from castor oil (Ricinus Communis) and cashew nut shell liquid in broiler diet at the level of 1.5 and 2 gr/kg was effective in improvement of body weight gain and feed conversion rate compared to the control diet. The cashew coat and castor grain has antioxidant and antimicrobial effects and it can be useful in hens’ nutrition. This experiment was conducted to study the effect of a mixture of essential oil of castor and cashew nut shell on performance, egg quality, and blood and egg yolk parameters in commercial laying hen.
Material and One hundred and twenty eight 58-wk-old LSL laying hens were allotted into 4 dietary treatments in a completely randomized design. Each treatment has 4 replicate pens with 8 birds per pen. Birds were fed the following experimental diets for 5 weeks: 1) control diet (C); 2) C plus 0.75 g/kg an essential oil mixture of castor and cashew nut shell (EOM); 3) C plus 1.5 g/kg EOM; and 4) C plus 2.25 g/kg EOM. The performance of hens and egg quality characteristics were determined at 61 and 63 wk of age. For egg quality measurement, 12 eggs from each treatment were used after being weighed, Egg width and length and shell thickness was assessed by Using a Vernier caliper. HU and albumen height for each egg was measured with Egg Multi Tester (EMT- 5200) using the following equation (Haugh, 1937): Haugh unit = 100 log (height of the albumen - 1.7egg weight0.37 7.6). Shell thickness of broken eggs was calculated as the mean of 3 measurements taken at the broad end, middle, and narrow end. The yolks of the four eggs were mixed together and frozen at -20◦C until measurement of their parameters including cholesterol and triglyceride. At the end of experimental period, two birds were randomly selected from each replicate and were bled from the brachial vein by the tube contain EDTA. Blood samples were centrifuged (1500 rpm, 15 min, 24°C) and the plasma was stored at -20°C. Plasma metabolites including cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), triglyceride, aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase were measured enzymatically with an autoanalyzer (Allison 300). The difference in the means of blood and egg yolk metabolites were subjected GLM procedure of SAS 9.0 software and the Duncan test. (SAS, 2009). Data of performance and egg quality analyzed using repeated measurement PROC MIXED of SAS adding factor time as a fixed effect and pen was considered a random effect. Tukey test was performed to detect differences among treatments at (P Effects of different levels of dietary blend essential oil of Cashew nut shell and castor on laying hen performance and egg quality at 58 to 63 age of week are shown in Tables 2, 3 and 4. Results indicated that, essential oil supplementation had no significant effect on laying rate, egg weight, egg mass, feed intake and feed conversion ratio. Similarly among treatments significant differences were not seen in egg quality traits, including egg shape index, shell thickness, shell weight, albumen height and haugh unit (P>0.05). Effects of different level of blend essential oil (Cashew nut shell and castor) on egg yolk cholesterol and triglyceride and blood parameters in laying hens at 63 age of week are presented in Tables 5 and 6. The dietary inclusion of different level of EOM decreased total cholesterol (P0.05). It was concluded that addition of essential oil (Ricinus communis and Anacardium occidentale L.) at 0.75 to 2.25 g/kg in the diet of laying hens has no effects on laying hen performance and egg quality traits in the late phase of production.