Fermented Astragalus in diet improved laying performance, egg quality, antioxidant and immunological status and intestinal microbiota in laying hens

AMB Express

Table 3 Effects of different dietary supplements on the production performance of laying hens

Parameters	Control	Astragalus	L. plantarum	Fermented Astragalus	P-value	SEM
1–14 days
Laying rate, %	87.50 ± 3.45	89.17 ± 2.08	87.50 ± 2.70	90.60 ± 3.80	0.349	1.376
FCR	2.02 ± 0.08	1.94 ± 0.05	2.02 ± 0.10	1.95 ± 0.08	0.224	0.037
15–28 days
Laying rate, %	88.96 ± 3.76a	92.21 ± 2.75ab	91.95 ± 3.83ab	96.10 ± 1.03b	0.017	1.368
FCR	1.81 ± 0.08b	1.75 ± 0.06ab	1.77 ± 0.11ab	1.69 ± 0.05a	0.172	0.035

Different lowercase letters in the same row indicate significant difference (P < 0.05), and the same letters or no letters indicate no significant difference (P > 0.05) (same as below)
FCR feed conversion ratio