Effect of Compound Chinese Herbal Medicine Additives on Production Performance of Hailan Layers

In order to study the effect of different doses of compound Chinese herbal medicine added into the feeds (the main ingredients of which were herba epimedium, purslane, ligustrum lucidum ait, rosa laevigata michx and pine needles) on the production performance of hailan layers, 750 hailan layers aged 53 weeks were randomly selected and randomly divided into 5 groups with 6 repetitions in each group and 25 chickens in each repetition. The control group was fed with basal ration, while the compound Chinese herbal medicine additives of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 g·d^-1 per layer were added to Group A, B, C and D respectively. The results showed that the addition of different doses of compound Chinese herbal medicine in the daily ration had no significant effect on feed intake, egg weight and egg quality (such as egg shape index, eggshell color, eggshell thickness, eggshell strength, albumen height and haugh unit) (P>0.05). However, the compound Chinese herbal medicine could significantly increase the laying rate and average daily egg weight of hailan layers (P<0.05) and also reduce the feed-gain ratio (P<0.01), among which the effect was the most significant when the quantity of additive was 1.5 g·d^-1 per layer. It indicated that the addition of compound Chinese herbal medicine in the feedstuffs could improve the production performance and feed conversion rate of hailan layers.