| dc.description.abstract | Solar UVB radiation is only present at adequate levels in the UK to allow the human
body to produce its vitamin D requirement from sunlight alone between the months of March
and October (NHS, 2017). Coupled with the fact that a growing proportion of the population
are employed in sectors requiring long hours spent indoors and children are spending an
increasing amount of time indoors, the incidence of vitamin D deficiencies and related
diseases are on the rise.
In this study I looked at whether the vitamin D levels in egg yolk could be raised to
200IU (5μg) via supplementing the hen’s drinking water with vitamin D and examined
whether this had any effect on egg quality.
Two sister flocks, each with 16,000 birds were used. One as a Control flock and the
other as the Trial flock. The Trial flock had vitamin D solution, D Plus, added to its drinking
water for three consecutive days a week, each week for the duration of the trial. Other than
this change in water all other variables such as feed, lighting timings etc. were kept identical
in each flock. | en_US |
