Egypt. Poult. Sci.

Vol (32) (III): (607-611)

EFFECTS OF VITAMIN C SUPPLEMENTATION ON EGG QUALITY

CHARACTERISTICS OF HARCO BLACK LAYERS DURING THE
HOT SEASON.
By
M USA-AZARA, S.I,1 OGAH, D.M,1 HASSAN, D.I1 and YAKUBU A.2
1. Department of Animal Science, College of Agriculture, Lafia, Nigeria.
2. Animal Science Dept. Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Nigeria.
Correspondence e-mail-dribmazara@yahoo.com.
Received: 02/07/2012

Accepted: 04/09/2012

ABSTRACT: The experiment was performed to determine the influence of vitamin C

supplementation on external and internal characteristics of eggs of Harco black layers
during the hot season in the northern Guinea Savanna zone of Nigeria. The birds were
divided into two groups (n-200). Group I serve as control while group II were
administered vitamin C (250mg/litre) in drinking water. the birds were managed in deep
litter and drinking water was provided ad libitum. Parameters evaluated include egg
weight, egg length, egg width, shell thickness, shell weight, albumen weight, albumen
height, yolk weight, yolk height and yolk width. Mean values for egg weight, egg length,
egg width, Albumen weight, Albumen height, and yolk height were found to be significantly
higher in vitamin C treated group. There was however, no superiority in shell thickness,
shell weight, yolk weight and yolk width. Relationship between Albumen weight and other
egg traits was positive and significant (P<0.01). Other egg parameters are either positively
or inversely correlated with each other. Egg weight was better predicted using a
combination of Albumen weight, yolk weight and shell weight. Findings of this research
suggest that vitamin c supplementation can alleviate the problems associated with heat
stress. It is Concluded that vitamin C supplementation can ameliorate the effect of heat
stress on egg quality.

INTRODUCTION
Vitamin C is a water soluble
vitamin required by the body to maintain
normal metabolic functions (Lesson, 2001).
Ascorbic acid can also be added to poultry
feed to maintain egg production and egg
shell quality during heat stress (Zapata and
Gernat, 1995). It has also been reported to
improve livability and performance of
poultry (Cheng et al 1990 ). Common
stress factors in modern poultry production
in the tropic include high Ambient
temperatures (AT) and relative humidity
(RH), which often occur
concurrently
with other stress factors especially during
the hot-dry season (Igono et al, 1983).

The body requirement of Ascorbic

Acid during heat stress in poultry is greater
than the amount synthesized by normal
tissues and its administration to broilers
during heat stress has been shown to be
beneficial to the body. (Balogun et
al.,1990).
According to Schola and Gillani
(1995) free radicals are generated in the
body in large quantities during heat stress
thereby overwhelming the body systems .
The aim of this study is to determine the
effects of vitamin C supplementation on
external and internal egg characteristics
during the hot-dry season.

M USA-AZARA et al

Material and Method

The research was conducted in the
livestock complex of college of agriculture,
Lafia, Nasarawa State Nigeria. A total of
200 Harco black layers (40 weeks old)
were used for the study. The birds were
divided into two equal groups, animal in
group 1 serve as control while group 2
were administered vitamin c (250mg/litre)
in drinking water. 60 eggs were subjected
to quality analysis, external egg quality
traits investigated include egg weight, egg
length, egg width (cm) similarly, internal
egg parameters evaluated include shell
weight, shell thickness. (mm), albumen
weight (mm), yolk height(mm) yolk
weight(mm) and yolk weight(g). egg
quality traits were measure following
standard procedure ( Keddy et al., 1979,
Monira et al., 2003, Fayeye et al., 2005).
Egg weight was determined using
an electronic scale while egg length and
width were measure with a Vaniers
caliper. Each egg was carefully opened
around its sharp ends large enough to
allow the passage of both
yolk and

albumen through it without mixing their

contents, the yolk and albumen were placed
in separate Petri dishes, which had initially
been weighed. The difference in the weight
of Petri dishes before and after introduction
of yolk and albumen was taken as the
weight of yolk and albumen respectively.
The yolk and albumen heights were
recorded using a tripod micrometer. The
yolk width was measured around the width
horizontal circumference using Vanier
caliper. The thickness of each shell was
determined using a micrometer screw
gauge.
Analysis of variance was done for
all recorded parameters using appropriate
sub routine of SAS (1999).
Means separation was done using
least significance different (LSD) method
on the level P< 0.05.
Pearsons coefficients of correlation
among the various egg parameters (pooled
data) were estimated. Prediction of egg
weight was done using albumen weight and
a combination of albumen weight, yolk
weight and shell weight.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Table (1): Descriptive statistics of egg quality characteristics of layer with or without
vitamin C supplementation.
Variable Birds without Vitamin C
Birds with Vitamin C
Mean
SD
SE
Mean
SD
SE
b
a
Egg Weight (g)
50.94
3.89
0.71
54.44
3.19
0.58
Egg Length (cm)
5.51b
0.26
0.05
5.72a
0.18
0.03
Egg Width (cm)
4.28b
0.12
0.02
4.47a
0.20
0.04
Shell Thickness (mm) 0.55a
0.21
0.04
0.65a
0.22
0.04
a
a
Shell Weight (g)
6.81
0.68
0.12
7.01
0.74
0.14
Albumen Weight (g)
28.37b
0.68
0.12
31.27a
3.19
0.58
Albumen Height (mm) 0.49 b
0.13
0.02
0.57a
0.14
0.03
a
a
Yolk Weight (g)
15.71
1.52
0.28
16.46
2.53
0.46
Yolk Height (cm)
0.71b
0.19
0.04
0.91a
0.21
0.04
a
a
Yolk Width (cm)
5.75
0.58
0.11
5.55
0.74
0.14
SD: Standard, SE: Standard error ,means within the same raw bearing different
superscripts are significantly different (P<0.05).

608

Traits

609

Egg Weight
Egg Length
Egg Width
Shell Thickness
Shell Weight
Albumen Weight
Albumen Height
Yolk Weight
Yolk Height
Yolk Width

Egg Weigh Egg Length Egg Width

Shell
Albumen
Shell Weight
Thickness
Weight

-0.07NS
-0.00NS
0.19NS
-

0.49**
-

0.48**
0.30*
-

0.60**
0.38**
0.27**
-0.29*
-

0.81**
0.45**
0.40**
0.09NS
0.35**
-

Albumen
Height

Yolk
Weight

Yolk
Height

0.13-9NS
0.00NS
0.11NS
0.19NS
0.01NS
0.06NS
-

0.39**
0.10NS
0.20NS
-018NS
0.21NS
0.17NS
0.29*
-

0.24NS
0.13NS
.12NS
0.02NS
0.17NS
0.08NS
0.46**
0.56**
-

Yolk
Width
0.10NS
-0.07
-0.09
0.18NS
0.01NS
0.03NS
0.35**
0.16NS
0.44**
-

*** SIGNIFICANT P<0.01 respectively

NS not significant

Table (3): Regression models for the prediction of egg weight from egg variables.
Equation
R2
1.
EW=25.402+0.915AW
0.657
2.
EW= 6.32+1.5AW+1.002YW
0.934
3.
EW= 2.843+0.921AW+0.892YW+1.163SW 0.97
EW: Egg weight, AW: Albument weight, YW: Yolk weight, SW: Shell weight.
R2= Coefficient of Determination
** Significant at p<0.01
S/N

Adjusted
0.651
0.932
0.968

Significant
**
**
**

Vitamin C, egg quality, Harco black layers, Hot season

Table (2): Bivariate correlation egg quality characteristics of layers with or without vitamin C supplementation

M USA-AZARA et al

Table 4: Mean Relative Humidity and Temperature during the study period.
Relative Humidity
Min. Temperature (oc)
Max. Temperature (oc)
54
26.5
39.8

Mean values of egg parameters are

shown in table 1. The result indicate
significantly higher values (p<0.05)of egg
weight, egg length, egg width, albumen
weight, albumen height and yolk height for
birds given vitamin c supplementation.
However, there is no superiority in mean
values of shell thickness, shell weight and
yolk width between treatment groups.
Similar studies (Cifti et al., 2008) had
indicated significant increase in egg
production, egg weight and egg yolk,
whereas egg albumen and egg shell were
not modified. Findings of this research is
similar to that of Bains, 1996; who
observed the beneficial effect of vitamin c
supplementation and on egg production and
egg quality in laying hens. Similarly
(Mojtaba et al., 2001) reported an increase
in egg weight and egg quality in laying
hens supplemented with vitamin c.
correlation coefficient of egg quality traits
(pooled data) are presented in table 2.
positive and significant correlation are
observed between egg weight and albumen
weight and yolk weight (p<0.01). the
highest positive correlation was found
between egg weight and albumen weight
while the lowest was observed between egg
length and egg width. However inverse
relationship existed between some egg
traits.
Positive correlation between egg
weight other traits is in agreement with
findings of Yakubu et al., 2005.
Egg weight was predicted from
albumen weight and a combination of
albumen weight and yolk weight (R2 =
0.65 and 0.93, p>0.01). the most reliable
estimate for egg weight was obtained when
albumen weight, yolk weight and shell
weight were fitted into the model.

CONCLUSION
Result of this research revealed the
beneficial
effect
of
vitamin
c
supplementation
on
egg
quality
characteristic in laying birds during the hot
drying season. This indicate the possibility
of using vitamin c to counter the
deleterious effect of heat stress in chickens.
Positive relationship between egg weight
and other traits suggest that improvement
of one trait can result in improvement of
other traits.
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