Abstract

Due to the extreme importance of the poultry industry in securing animal proteins for humans, it is necessary to expand the research related to increasing egg production without resorting to antibiotics, which pose significant drawbacks. This study explored the impact of sage plant extracts, known for their bioactive compounds, on the production indicators of laying hens. Thirty chickens were randomly assigned to three groups, including a control group and two experimental groups (T1 and T2) receiving sage plant aqueous extract at 0.1% and 0.2% in their diets, respectively. The egg production percentage, egg weight percentage, percentage of daily feed consumption, feed conversion coefficient, and blood calcium concentrations were measured. The results indicated that supplementation of sage extract in the diet of the laying hens under study increased daily egg production percentage and daily egg yield significantly in group T2 (87.63%, 59.7 eggs/day) and improved average egg weight (68.23 grams) in group T1. Moreover, there was no significant difference in daily feed consumption among the tested hens. A notable reduction was also observed in the feed conversion ratio to 2.09 in group T2.