Maintaining normal physiology and good health of the laying hen is essential to produce high-quality eggs for longer periods of time. In laying hens, the inclusion of postbiotics in the diet to maintain and improve productivity and egg quality has been researched and has led to the development and commercialization of a new product, AO-Biotics^® EQE (Egg Quality Enhancer).

AO-Biotics EQE is a fungal postbiotic produced using patent-pending technology and specifically indicated to improve the number of sellable eggs, egg mass and productive lifespan of laying hens. De Juan et. al. (2021 and 2022) studied the effects of AO-Biotics EQE on the performance and egg quality traits of hens from 15 to 43 and 18 to 65 weeks of age, respectively. The results, along with numerous field trials, demonstrated the addition of AO-Biotics EQE increased sellable eggs by 3%, egg mass by 2%, egg production by 3%, and decreased mortality by around 25%, on average. But, do the benefits of adding AO-Biotics EQE significantly outweigh the costs?

Economic Evaluation

To maximize profitability, egg producers must strive to optimize the productivity of their hens, increase the survivability rate, and maintain or improve the eggshell quality, helping the animals produce more sellable eggs. To achieve this, producers need to apply a high-quality management system, which might include the incorporation of a well-proven postbiotic such as AO-Biotics EQE.

BioZyme^® Inc., the creator of AO-Biotics EQE, has created a calculator to help producers evaluate the potential and advantages of incorporating AO-Biotics EQE into their feeding programs. The tool considers the most relevant parameters for egg producers when evaluating the profitability of their operation.

It includes:

As well, it considers the cost of adding AO-Biotics EQE to the diet. At the recommended inclusion rate of 50 mg/MT, the total cost will represent less than a 1% increase in the feed cost.

A practical example is:

With the above exposed parameters, 36,000 hens will leave the production. The first advantage of AO-Biotics EQE is an improvement in the liveability of the flock, reducing the cumulative mortality on average by 25%. The cumulative mortality would drop to 4.5% (9,000 hens more in the operation producing eggs for a longer time).

The second advantage is more egg mass, together with an improvement in the persistence of egg production over time. Improving the productivity and the productive life span of the flock will be reflected in an improvement in the number of sellable eggs (3% more). In this case, the improvement in sellable eggs will mean 14 more eggs per hen in production.

Considering this improvement in combination with the savings due to the increased productive lifespan of layers, producers can expect a return on investment of more than 6:1.

Are you egg-cited yet about what AO-Biotics EQE is worth? Visit Biozymeinc.com/additive/eqe/ to learn more about incorporating AO-Biotics EQE into your operation. You can also calculate your own ROI based on your input costs using our online AO-Biotics EQE Economic Return Calculator, or contact one of our representatives to help you complete the economic evaluation.