Effect of Roasted and Unroasted Date Palm Seeds on Egg Production and Chemical Characteristics of Laying Hen Eggs

• Noor Nashaat Bahjat 1 and Mohammed Sabah Baha Al-Din2

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The aim of this study was to determine the effects of dietary supplementation of date palm seeds (roasted and unroasted) on productive performance and egg chemical composition of Lohmann White laying hens. A total of 140 laying hens, 22 weeks of age, were randomized by dietary treatment and five replicates per treatment were used, with four hens per replicate. This experiment lasted for 91 days. The treatments included a control diet, diets containing unroasted date palm seeds at 5%, 7.5%, and 10%, and diets containing roasted date palm seeds at 5%, 7.5%, and 10%. Productive traits, such as egg production percentage, egg mass, feed conversion ratio, and body weight, were measured. Furthermore, the chemical composition of egg yolk and albumen, including moisture, protein, fat, ash, and carbohydrates, was measured. The results showed that the overall means of egg production percentage, egg mass, and feed conversion ratio were not significantly affected by the dietary treatments. However, the inclusion of 7.5% roasted date palm seeds showed the best numerical improvement in egg mass and feed conversion ratio. Significant differences were observed in some chemical characteristics of egg yolk, particularly moisture, ash, fat, and carbohydrate percentages, while yolk protein was not significantly affected. In albumen, only ash percentage was significantly influenced by dietary treatments. In conclusion, roasted and unroasted date palm seeds can be used as partial feed ingredients in laying hen diets without adverse effects on overall productive performance. Roasted date palm seeds at 7.5% may be considered the most suitable level under the conditions of this study.

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