ISSUE FOCUS 42 FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE September 2024 cessfully hatched was 0.6 percentage points higher for the antioxidant treated group (despite being already very high for the control). In other words, this indicated a better ‘fertile hatchability’ for the ELIFE® supplemented group (Table 1). Therefore, next to the degree of fertile and viable hatching eggs (detected on incubation day 18), also embryonic strength/ quality seemed favored as from week 45 of life when adding the phytogenic blend to the parental diet. 3 EXTRA DAY-OLD CHICKS (DOC) As a summary of the commercial broiler breeder trial, the above overview in Table 1 shows the average value of all relevant parameters during Phase 2 of lay (week 45 till 62 of life) for each treatment group. As depicted, during this 2nd half of production the dietary supplementation of 1 kg/t ELIFE® bioactive antioxidant created relevant improvements from an economic point of view. Combining all its effects on both laying persistency (hen-week), egg fertility and hatchability rate, it was calculated (cumulatively per week) that about 3.4 extra DOC’s were produced per hen over these last 18 weeks of the laying cycle. Overall, this final outcome equated to an interesting return-on-investment of more than 5:1 for the integrated hatchery in question. CONCLUSIONS The body tissues of adult breeders, especially the digestive and reproductive organs, are considerably affected under conditions of oxidative stress. This state is induced by many factors including aging, heat stress or a high metabolic rate and -stocking density. It creates oxidative cell damage and several metabolic losses throughout the bird’s body, of which the above-mentioned sensitive tracts. Therefore, oxidative stress leads to a suboptimal egg performance for farms, but also an impaired egg fertility and hatching rate for hatcheries. However, in a recent commercial field trial, it was demonstrated that treating the diet of productive broiler breeders with 1 kg/t ELIFE® natural antioxidant increases laying persistency drastically during Phase 2 of lay (i.e. week 45 till 62 of life). Also during this later phase, dietary supplementation with this multi-botanical blend of selected polyphenols resulted in a higher hen survival, egg fertility and total hatchability rate compared to the control. Fertile hatchability was increased here as well, suggesting the bioactive antioxidant also supported hatching egg antioxidant status and embryonic strength/vitality. Combining all these effects, the ELIFE® treatment yielded more than 3 extra DOC’s per breeder hen over the last 18 weeks of production. By doing so, it has shown the potential to create interesting economic benefits for both commercial parent stock farms and (integrated) hatcheries. References are available upon request via elife@impextraco.com About Steven Beckers Steven Beckers is a monogastric nutritionist with a Master’s degree in Applied Bio-Sciences Engineering from the University of Leuven (Belgium). Since 2019, Beckers is a Global Product Manager of multiple specialty feed additives at Impextraco. Here he provides technical support to customers and end users, to help establish innovative concepts in different agricultural markets. He is devoted to maximizing animal health and performance, by correctly advising and optimizing the application of value-added products.
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