Astaxanthin Z-isomer-rich diets enhance egg yolk pigmentation in laying hens compared to that in all-E-isomer-rich diets.

Masaki Honda, Yuki Kawashima, Kazuaki Hirasawa, Takeshi Uemura, Jinkun Sun, Yoshiaki Hayashi

Animal science journal = Nihon chikusan Gakkaiho 2021 Jan-Dec

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The effects of feeding diets containing astaxanthin with different Z-isomer ratios to laying hens on egg qualities, such as astaxanthin concentration in egg yolk and yolk color, were investigated. As the astaxanthin source, a natural microorganism Paracoccus carotinifaciens was used. Astaxanthin with different Z-isomer ratios was prepared by thermal treatment with different conditions and then added to the basal diet at a final astaxanthin concentration of 8 mg/kg. We found that, as the Z-isomer ratios of astaxanthin in the diet increased, the astaxanthin concentration in egg yolk and the yolk color fan score also increased significantly. Importantly, feeding a 50.6% Z-isomer ratio diet increased astaxanthin concentration in egg yolk by approximately fivefold and the color fan score by approximately 2 compared to that in hens fed an all-E-isomer-rich diet. Moreover, we showed that feeding Z-isomer-rich astaxanthin to laying hens increased plasma astaxanthin concentration by more than five times in comparison to that in hens fed an all-E-isomer-rich diet. These results indicate that Z-isomers of astaxanthin have higher bioavailability than that of the all-E-isomer and thus they exhibit greater egg yolk-accumulation efficiency. © 2021 Japanese Society of Animal Science.

Citation

Masaki Honda, Yuki Kawashima, Kazuaki Hirasawa, Takeshi Uemura, Jinkun Sun, Yoshiaki Hayashi. Astaxanthin Z-isomer-rich diets enhance egg yolk pigmentation in laying hens compared to that in all-E-isomer-rich diets. Animal science journal = Nihon chikusan Gakkaiho. 2021 Jan-Dec;92(1):e13512