Determining the Optimal Inclusion Rate of 1-Monoglycerides of Butyric, Capric and Caprylic Acid in Healthy Laying Hens

1-Monoglycerides of short and medium chain fatty acids (monobutyrin, monocaprin and monocaprylin) have shown positive effects on cell metabolism, intestinal integrity and immune system (Calder 2008). However, little is known about their effect on laying hen health, performance and egg quality. Therefore, this study was designed to add further insight into the applied benefits as well as optimal inclusion level of 1-monoglycerides of butyric, capric and caprylic acid on hen performance, their immune health, focusing on external and internal egg quality as well as eggshell ultrastructure.

A total of 256, 15-week-old unchallenged and healthy Isa Brown hens were placed in pairs in conventional cages equipped with two nipple drinkers and two trough feeders. Hens were randomly allocated into 4 treatment groups (32 replicates/treatment): 0%, 0.05%, 0.1% and 0.2% 1-monoglycerides of butyric, capric and caprylic acid (BalanGut® LS P, BASF Ludwigshafen, Germany) inclusion level. After one week of adaptation, the hens were fed with isocaloric and isonitrogenous experimental diets that met or exceeded the nutrient requirements as specified by the breeder manual until hens were 30 weeks of age. Production performance and egg quality parameters were investigated weekly while eggshell ultrastructure, yolk vitamin content and intestinal intraepithelial lymphocytes were determined when hens were 30 weeks of age. A dose-dependent regression analysis was used to investigate the impact of the 4 inclusion levels of 1-monoglycerides of butyric, capric and caprylic acid on hen performance, egg quality and with cage as statistical unit. One-way ANOVA was used to analyse egg yolk vitamins and eggshell ultrastructure with an egg as statistical unit. For hen performance and egg quality, cage was considered as statistical unit while for egg yolk and eggshell ultrastructure, each egg was considered as statistical unit. The continuous data were tested for normality using Wilkinson Shapiro test and P > 0.05 was considered normally distributed.

There was no significant effect of inclusion of butyric, capric and caprylic acid on any of the performance parameters, immune system, internal egg quality parameters and most of the eggshell ultrastructure parameters. The eggs from hens fed with 0.2% 1-monoglycerides of butyric, capric and caprylic acid had significantly higher albumen height (P = 0.03) throughout the laying period suggesting beneficial effect of this combination at older age when egg quality is known to decrease significantly. There is thus an opportunity to investigate the positive effect of these 1-monoglycerides for older hens as it pertains to improving egg quality at that stage of lay. In conclusion, further investigation regarding the addition of 1-monoglycerides of butyric, capric and caprylic acid is warranted especially when using in laying hens during mid- and late lay.

Acknowledgement: BASF and Poultry Hub Australia for financial and administrative support.