Introduction

With the increase of microbes resistance, the use of antibiotics as growth promoters is decreasing worldwide. As a consequence, there is a need for alternative products able to maintain production performances without antibiotics. In this context, a trial was conducted on laying hens to evaluate the effects of a patented activated clay (B-Safe). 

Material and methods

The performances were recorded during 8 weeks, between 52 and 59 weeks of production. The following data were registered :

- number of eggs produced, average eggs weight, number of downgraded eggs
- daily feed consumption, feed conversion ratio

All data were subjected to analysis of variance procedure with diet, time and cage nested in diet as the 3 fixed factors of the model. Statistically different means were separated using Duncan's multiple range tests (p< 0.05). 

Results

B-Safe significantly improved laying percentage (+ 2.7 %, p<0.05), average egg weight (+1.7%, p<0.001) and feed conversion ratio (-4.1%, p<0.001) in comparison with the negative control. The egg mass was improved by 4.7% (p<0.001).

Zinc bacitracin also improved performances in comparison with the negative control non significantly except for the average egg weight (+0.8%, p<0.001) and the egg mass (+2.4%, p<0.001).

No significant difference was observed on the number of downgraded eggs with any of the diets.

Conclusion

In the conditions of the trial, B-Safe significantly improved layers performance in comparison with the negative control. Performances obtained on the B-Safe group were also higher than those obtained on the zinc bacitracin group. As a consequence, B-Safe can be considered as an efficient solution to improve egg production.