Effects of Chito-Oligosaccharide Supplementation on Egg Production, Nutrient Digestibility, Egg Quality and Blood Profiles in Laying Hens (Report‪)‬

INTRODUCTION In the past four decades, antibiotics have been used as feed additives to improve growth and egg production, and to protect animals from pathogenic microorganisms. The general ban on the use of feed antibiotics as microbial performance promoters that is expected to be introduced more widely throughout the world in the coming years, has increased the urgency for research on botanical feed additives (Best, 2000). Therefore, various oligosaccharides are now being added to livestock feed as prebiotics to improve animal health, production, and immune ability and to influence the gut microbiota (White et al., 2002; Lemieux et al., 2003). Certain oligosaccharides are considered to be prebiotic compounds because they are not hydrolyzed in the upper gastrointestinal tract and are able to favorably alter the colonic microflora (Biggs et al., 2007).