Clarity-Q® supplementation improves laying hen performance

The results showed significant improvements in overall performance (Table 2) and immune response in pullets supplemented with Clarity-Q® at 250 g/ton throughout the study period (Table 3). Additionally, improved digestibility of nutrients was also observed at the same dosage of Clarity-Q® (Table 4). 

Table 1. Treatment groups

Table 2. Performance summary of pullets fed diets with 0, 125, 250 or 500 g/ton Clarity-Q® from 0-15 weeks of age

Table 3. Antibody titers for Egg Drop Syndrome (EDS) from samples collected after vaccination. Columns within a row with different superscripts (a,b) are significantly different (p < 0.05)

Table 4. Mean digestibility of nutrients at 0, 125, 250 and 500 g/ton Clarity-Q® from 0-15 weeks of age

This trial was continued into the laying period where diets were supplemented with the same dose rates in the same four treatment groups. Key performance parameters were gathered from 20-week-old laying hens over a ten-week period. Egg production rate, egg weight, egg mass and feed efficiency were all significantly improved with Clarity-Q® supplementation (Tables 5 and 6). 

A significant (p < 0.001) increase in average egg production rate (64.40%, 69.79%, 71.59% and 72.87%) and egg weight (56.41 g, 57.38 g, 58.65 g and 59.00 g) were observed with increasing levels of Clarity-Q® supplementation at 0, 125, 250 and 500 g/ton, respectively. The same significant (p < 0.001) improvement was reflected in egg mass (39.15, 40.04, 41.99 and 43.00) and feed efficiency (2.78, 2.72, 2.59 and 2.53) in laying hens fed diets supplemented with increasing doses of Clarity-Q® (0, 125, 250 and 500 g/ton, respectively). 

Table 5. Feed intake, FCR and percentage mortality of layers fed diets containing 0, 125, 250 or 500 g/ton Clarity-Q®

Table 6. Egg production rate, egg weight and egg mass of eggs from layers fed diets containing 0, 125, 250 or 500 g/ton Clarity-Q®

An economic analysis was performed in terms of return on investment (ROI, Table 7). The dosage rate of 250 g/ton showed the highest ROI (6.7) compared with the 125 and 500 g/ton dose rates which had ROIs of 2.6 and 6.1, respectively. These calculations also considered the cost of supplementation in the rearing stage.

Table 7. Calculation of return on investment (ROI) based on production parameters in the Philippines

In conclusion, this trial clearly demonstrates the performance and economic advantage of supplementing Clarity-Q® to layer feeds in both the rearing and production phases.