Tarragon (Artemisia Dracunculus L.) Could Alleviate Negative Effects of Stocking Density in Laying Hens

ABSTRACT The study was conducted to determine the effects of stocking density (SD, 5 or 7 layers/cage) and tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus L.) diet supplementation at four levels (0, 1.2, 6 and 12 g/kg feed) on performance, certain egg characteristics, serum, liver, egg yolk and small intestine bacteria parameters in laying hens. The experiment was carried out over a period of 8 weeks, with 192 Lohman Brown commercial hybrids at 50-w-age. The results showed that an increased SD reduced feed intake (FI; p0.05) parameters. The supplementation of tarragon to the diet reduced the FI and damaged egg ratio (p