Authors:

Rachel Elizabeth Kuhn

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About Paper:

Consumers prefer darker egg yolks, which can result from carotenoid deposition into the yolk from dietary ingredients. Carotenoids are fat-soluble micronutrients that provide various health benefits and can be found naturally in plants and algae. NutraMaize developed an Orange corn (OC) variety by selectively breeding to contain higher levels of carotenoids than traditional yellow corn (YC). A cross-over dietary study where diets containing either OC or YC was fed to 1400 Bovan Brown hens housed between 2 enriched floor and 2 aviary rooms to determine differences in the yolk color of eggs produced by chickens fed OC versus YC. As a result, there are four treatments being compared: (growing diet/lay diet) YC/OC, OC/OC, OC/YC, and YC/YC. Yolk scores were then measured using a Digital YolkFan Pro on 36 broken-out yolks collected per treatment at 70 weeks of age. These data points were analyzed at p < 0.05 significance using an ANOVA for treatment differences and a Tukey test for mean separation. The YC/OC was numerically higher than OC/OC treatment. Both YC/OC and OC/OC were significantly darker yolks than those of the YC/YC diet. YC/OC, OC/OC, and YC/YC were all then significantly darker yolks than that of the OC/YC diet (P < 0.001). This study is ongoing, but from these data points, layers fed OC show significantly darker yolk colors than YC. Thus, implementing OC into layer diets can produce the desired darker egg yolks for consumers. Keywords: Egg Yolk; Egg; Yellow Corn; Laying Hens; Layer

Source:

Purdue University / 2024

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Co-authors:

Rachel Elizabeth Kuhn