Relationship of biotin to reproductive performance of Leghorn-type hens

Five floor pens with 14 Leghorn-type breeder hens each, in their 4th month of production, and 2 males per pen were fed a practical-type breeder diet composed largely of soybean meal and milo supplemented with unidentified hatchability factor sources and adequate levels of vitamins and minerals. Five additional pens were fed an identical ration supplemented with biotin at a level of 550 mcg./kg. of diet. Treatment was for a period of 7 months. A 3% improvement in production was obtained by biotin (550 mcg./kg.) supplementation, which was found to be highly significant (P less than or equal to .005) by chi-square analysis. A slight improvement was noted for feed efficiency. Biotin supplementation had no effect on egg size or adult livability. Fertility and hatchability were both significantly improved by biotin supplementation. Fertility and hatchability differences were found to be highly significant by chi-square analyses. Increased hatchability was due to a decreased number of early dead, late dead, and pipped embryos that failed to hatch.