The current experiment carried out to evaluate ability of gaur meal or saponin extracted from it as a safe alternative to antibiotics in laying hens. At 22-weeks-old, 168 healthy hens divided into 7 groups where each group consists of 3 replicates and each replicate hold 8 hens. The first group was a control treatment and fed corn-soya meal diet and the treatments from 2 to 7 fed control diets supplemented with 0.3% guar meal, 0.6% guar meal, 60 ppm saponin, 120 ppm saponin, 60 ppm salinomycin and 120 ppm salinomycin respectively. The parameters of egg production performance, egg quality, each of giblets organs and immune organs moreover lipid, protein lipid profile and liver enzymes measured to determine the experimental aims.
The results showed that an improvement in most of egg production parameters achieved when saponin extracted from gaur or equivalent amount from gaur meal supplemented to control diet. Increasing levels of saponin or gaur meal had ability to achieve clear improvement in egg production performance compared with increasing salinomycin level.
Egg quality and slaughter parameters did not show critical difference among levels of saponin or gaur meal from one side and levels of salinomycin from other side. Liver function showed clearly harms effect when salinomycin supplemented to control diet where AST and ALT increased significantly when salinomycin supplemented to control diets compared with natural ingredient. Responses of production performance and liver enzymes for experimental treatments enhance the idea of using natural components as a safe alternative to antibiotics.