Laying performance, digestibility and plasma hormones in laying hens exposed to chronic heat stress as affected by betaine, vitamin C, and/or vitamin E supplementation

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Table 3 Effects of dietary betaine (Bet), vitamin C (Vit. C), vitamin E (Vit. E), and their combined supplementation on digestibility of nutrients in dual-purpose hens reared under heat stress condition

Digestibility, %	Control (+)	Heat stress treatments								SEM	P value
Digestibility, %	Control (+)	Control (−)	Control + Bet	Control +Vit. C	Control +Vit. E	Control + Bet + Vit. C	Control + Bet + Vit. E	Control + Vit. C + Vit. E	Control + Bet + Vit. C + Vit. E	SEM	P value
Dry matter	69.12	68.60	69.44	69.03	69.18	69.42	69.35	68.97	69.33	0.371	0.791
Crude protein	79.60^a	76.41^c	78.93^ab	78.75^ab	78.22^b	79.13^ab	78.97^ab	78.95^ab	79.17^ab	0.271	0.001
Ether extract	78.24	77.93	78.41	78.11	78.09	78.33	78.36	78.21	78.49	0.402	0.991
Crude fiber	24.12	23.99	24.16	23.95	24.00	24.14	24.17	24.06	24.15	0.310	0.999
Nitrogen free extract	79.34	79.23	79.45	79.32	79.40	79.56	79.50	79.52	79.42	0.355	0.999

Means with at least one common superscript in a row do not differ significantly (P > 0.05)