Effects of Rice Bran and Phytase Supplementation on Performance, Egg Quality, and Biochemical Parameters of Comercial Hy-Line Laying Hens

Rice bran (RB) is a major by-product, produced from the rice milling process. This study was conducted to evaluate the performance, egg quality, and blood biochemical parameters of 288 Hy-line laying hens fed diets with rice bran and commercial microbial phytase Natuphos® 5000. The experiment was a 4×2 factorial one with four RB levels (0, 5, 10, and 15%) by two phytase levels (0 and 5000 FTU/kg diet). These diets were fed to experimental groups from 30 up to 42 week old. The results indicated that there were no signifi-cant phytase effects or rice bran levels, on hen-day egg production, feed intake, egg mass, yolk index, egg shell weight, egg shell thickness, haugh unit, specific gravity, and shell weight/surface area compared with control group. Inclusion of the RB or phytase in laying hens diets did not significantly influence biochemi-cal parameters (cholesterol, triglyceride, uric acid, glucose, total protein and albumin), and cholesterol in yolk. The results suggested that supplementing 5000 FTU/kg diet of phytase enzyme for layers resulted in no further improvement; it was also indicated that use of RB at a dietary level is beneficial to the laying hens industry, up to 15% in Iran. Moreover, since the price of RB was cheaper than other major ingredients, dietary inclusion of rice bran (RB) would be beneficial.