Effect of dietary supplementation of Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) root powder on external egg parameters and body weight changes in laying hens

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of supplementation of different levels of Ashwagandha root powder in the laying hens’ diet on their production performance and egg quality parameters during a period of 16 weeks. A total of 120 white leghorn laying hens at 22 weeks of age were randomly selected and distributed into five experimental groups having four replicates of six birds each. The first group was kept as a control (T1) and given the basal diet without antibiotics while second (T2), third (T3), fourth (T4) and fifth (T5) groups were fed basal diets supplemented with ARP @ 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1%, respectively. The results revealed that the body weight changes and the egg quality parameters viz. egg weight, shell thickness and egg shape index were not affected by the Ashwagandha root powder supplementation.