Efficacy of Turbo Tox® (XVET Germany), in the performance of laying hens

Type of trial: Feeding trial
Location of trial: Poultry farm, Gloria S.A.C, Chosica-Lima, Peru
Trial period: 12 weeks
Trial design: 4.000 laying hens (Hisex Brown) at the age of 42 weeks
Trial aim: To assess the effect of different dosages (1 kg and 1.5 kg per ton of feed) of Turbo Tox, XVET Germany on laying performances

Introduction:

In Peru, as well as other parts of the world, poultry farming has become very important due to the high market demand for meat and eggs. This industry is dependent on imported feed ingredients and therefore there will always be challenges on improving productivity and prices. Thus, reducing the cost of production in laying hens is vital. Nowadays, due to genetic selection, laying hens are very efficient in their performance with increased egg mass, quality, better feed conversion, reduced feed consumption, and mortality. In recent years, feed costs have been increasing dramatically and now is up to 70 percent of livestock production cost. Currently,  the use of additives is a common practice due to their clear benefits. Therefore, nutritional additives such as Turbo Tox play a key role on todays’ productions.

Material and methods:

Birds were divided into two different experimental units (2 repetitions). Each unit consists of 400 cages with 5 birds in each cage. The experiment consists of 4 different treatments:
·      Treatment 1:  1 kg Turbo Tox per ton of feed
·      Treatment 2: 1.5 kg Turbo Tox per ton of feed
·      Control 1: Basal diet (Control)
·      Control 2: Basal diet (Control)

The diet was calculated using linear software to cover the nutritional requirements of Hisex Brown laying hens. Commercial ingredients such as yellow corn, wheat flour, soy flour, soybean oil and additives such as calcium carbonate, pre-mixed vitamins and minerals were used in the diet (crumble).

The collected data was used to estimate the following parameters:
·       Weekly feed consumption.
·       Daily average egg production.

Egg mass and average egg weight were calculated as below:

·      Total egg mass (kg) was calculated by multiplying the number of eggs by average egg weight
·      The average egg weight (g) was calculated by dividing egg mass (g) by the number of eggs produced
·       Feed conversion ratio was evaluated by dividing the weekly feed consumption (kg) by the weekly egg mass (kg).

Return on invest per (1000 hens) was also calculated.

Results:

The results show a quantitative difference in the egg production between the treatments and control groups, with treatment 1 (1 kg/ton) having a higher egg production (Figure.1). Total egg mass is higher in treatment 1 group, closely followed by treatment 2 group (Figure. 2).

Average egg weight is higher in treatments with Turbo Tox then control groups as shown in Table 1. When comparing both treatments, Treatment 1 has higher average egg weight than treatment 2 (1.5 kg/ton). Feed consumption throughout the trial period is not significantly different. Treatment 1 has the most efficient feed conversion (1.87) followed by treatment 2 (1.89). Control 1 and 2 have less efficient feed conversions, 1.92 and 1.95 respectively.

At the end of the experiment, the highest weight gain is seen in treatment 1 followed by treatment 2, as shown in table 1. Treatment 1 shows the highest Return on Investment (ROI) compared to other treatments (Table. 2).

Conclusion:

It is concluded that the use of Turbo Tox, XVET Germany at the dosage of 1 kg per ton of feed is beneficial and cost effective for laying performances. 1 kg Turbo Tox per ton of feed is sufficient for improving laying hens productivity and increasing the performance of:
·      Egg production
·      ROI (Return on investment)
·      Weight gain   
·      Average egg weight
·      Total egg mass
·      Feed conversion rate

Acknowledgements:

We thank Dr. Diego Castilla Campos for his invaluable assistance in conducting this study.