Effects of dietary supplementation with fermented and non-fermented brown algae by-products on laying performance, egg quality and blood profile in laying hens

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation with fermented and non-fermented brown algae by-products on the laying performance, egg quality, relative organ weight, and blood profile of laying hens. Hy-Line Brown chickens (n = 180; 70-week-old) were randomly divided into 5 groups with 4 replicates per group (3 hens per cage, 4 cages per replicate), and fed with 5 experimental diets, namely the basal control diet (CON) or the control diet supplemented with 0.5% brown seaweed (BS), 0.5% seaweed fusiforme (SF), 0.5% fermented brown seaweed (FBS), or 0.5% fermented seaweed fusiforme (FSF), for 4 weeks. Egg production rate and egg mass were greater in the brown seaweed (BS) group than in the other groups (p