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 5 Effects of dietary betaine (Bet), vitamin C (Vit. C), vitamin E (Vit. E), and their combined supplementation on carcass and some organ characteristic as relative to live body weight in dual-purpose hens reared under heat stress condition

Parameters	Control (+)	Heat stress treatments								SEM	P value
Parameters	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
Dressing, %	65.5	61.8	62.9	64.6	65.1	65.3	64.1	64.9	65.7	0.868	0.048
Abdominal fat, %	5.09	4.79	5.29	5.14	5.09	5.25	5.77	5.86	5.93	0.396	0.151
Liver weight, %	2.48^a	1.97^e	2.14^d	2.25^bcd	2.18 ^cd	2.35^abc	2.26^bcd	2.43^ab	2.40^ab	0.044	0.001
Spleen weight, %	0.140^ab	0.107^c	0.124^b	0.125^b	0.130^b	0.130^b	0.128^b	0.149^a	0.144^ab	0.0004	0.001
Pancreas weight, %	0.185	0.188	0.209	0.205	0.188	0.214	0.211	0.194	0.202	0.0008	0.130
Thyroid gland weight, %	0.0090^a	0.0070^b	0.0086^a	0.0082^a	0.0088^a	0.0088^a	0.0090^a	0.0084^a	0.0092^a	0.001	0.001
Ovary weight, %	2.83^a	2.51^d	2.77^ab	2.74^abc	2.62^c	2.62^c	2.70^bc	2.67^bc	2.65^bc	0.071	0.001
Total ovarian follicles, (n)	55.2	49.2	54.2	53.2	52.4	52.6	53.8	52.8	52.8	1.855	0.611
Large yellow follicles, (n)	5.40	4.00	5.40	5.00	5.00	5.20	5.20	5.20	5.20	0.334	0.156
Small white follicles, (n)	49.8	45.2	48.8	48.2	47.4	47.4	48.6	47.6	47.6	1.612	0.753
Large follicle weight, %	2.50^a	2.10^b	2.51^a	2.50^a	2.52^a	2.34^ab	2.41^ab	2.33^ab	2.45^ab	0.132	0.019
Oviduct Weight, %	3.21^a	2.40^c	3.13^a	3.20^a	2.72^b	2.74^b	2.83^b	2.85^b	2.83^b	0.105	0.001
Oviduct length, (cm)	58.3^a	49.2^d	56.2^ab	58.0^a	50.9^cd	52.3^bcd	53.9^abc	54.3^abc	54.0^abc	1.089	0.001

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