Abstract

The ban of antibiotics encourages the use of probiotics as natural feed additives for poultry. However, the effect of probiotics highly depends on the quality of drinking water. The use of Magnetic Technology (MT) could improve water quality, and potentially enhances the efficacy of probiotics. In the present study, the effect of probiotics and MT in drinking water on the production performance and egg quality of laying hens were evaluated using the inclusion of either non-encapsulated probiotic (PRO) and encapsulated probiotic (EPRO) along with drinking water exposure to 2,700 gausses of the magnetic field. A total of 288 57-weeks-old ISA Brown laying hens were randomly divided into six treatment groups with four replicates of 12 laying hens in each. The treatments consisted of untreated drinking water (control) and drinking water treated with PRO, EPRO, MT, PRO + MT, and EPRO + MT. The results indicated a highly significant improvement in feed conversion ratio, income over feed cost, and egg weight, as well as a significant improvement in egg mass, when EPRO was combined with MT. However, there was no significant effect on the other variables of the production performance and egg quality. It was, therefore, concluded that the use of MT with EPRO improved the egg mass, feed conversion ratio, income over feed cost, and egg weight of the laying hens.