© The Author(s). 2022 Open Access This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International License. RESEARCH ARTICLE I NTRODUCTION P oultry sector has developed high yielding layer (310-340 eggs/ annum) and broiler (2.4-2.6 kg at 6 weeks) varieties together with standardized package of practices on nutrition, housing, management and disease control over past 40 years (Chatterjee and Rajkumar, 2015). To maintain optimal production, many natural substances such as probiotics, prebiotics, organic acids, plant extracts and essential oils have been used (Fulton et al., 2002). Chili peppers (Capsicum annuum) are widely grown and used for food and traditional medicine all over the world. Chili is a good source of vitamins and minerals, carotenoids, and phenolic compounds such as capsaicinoids, luteolin and quercetin. Capsaicin (8-methyl- N-vanillyl-6-nonenamide), a bioactive chemical found in chili, has been shown to enhance antioxidant capacity and anti-inflammatory effect, as well as pain alleviation and modification of lipid metabolism and the gut microbial population. (Lee et al., 2005; Prakash and Srinivasan, 2010). Chili leaves are one of the potent agro industrial wastes of chili farming after harvesting the chili which are not used for human consumption, do not adversely alter the laying hen performance and additionally the use of red chili as a potential natural colour pigment can improve egg-yolk colour (Gurbuz et al., 2003) as egg yolk color is an important 1-3,6,7 Department of Animal Nutrition, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Udham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand-263145, India 4,8 Department of Livestock Production Management, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Udham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand-263145, India 5 Department of Veterinary Physiology and Biochemistry, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Udham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand-263145, India Corresponding Author: Abhilasha, Department of Animal Nutrition, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Udham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand-263145, India, e-mail: abhilasha260996@gmail.com How to cite this article: Abhilasha, Mondal, B. C., Kumar, R., Palod, J., Huozha, R., Kumar, A.,Prasad, S., & Ranwa, S. (2022). Effect of Dietary Incorporation of Chili (Capsicum annuum) Leaf Powder on Production Performance and Egg Quality Parameters of Rhode Island Red Laying Hens. Ind J Vet Sci and Biotech. 18(5), 46-50. Source of support: None Conflict of interest: None Submitted: 18/07/2022 Accepted: 30/10/2022 Published: 10/11/2022 Effect of Dietary Incorporation of Chili (Capsicum annuum) Leaf Powder on Production Performance and Egg Quality Parameters of Rhode Island Red Laying Hens Abhilasha 1 , B. C. Mondal 2 , Ripusudan Kumar 3 , Jyoti Palod 4 , Ruokuobeinuo Huozha 5 , Anil Kumar 6 , Srishtipriya Prasad 7 , Suman Ranwa 8 A BSTRACT This experiment was planned to ascertain the effect of dietary incorporation of chili (Capsicum annuum) leaf powder on production performance and egg quality parameters of Rhode Island Red laying hens of 28 weeks of age for a period of 12 weeks. Hens were individually weighed and then randomly assigned into four treatment groups with three replicates of 6 birds each viz., T 1 : (control, containing basal diet); T 2 : Incorporation of 0.5% chili leaf powder in basal diet; T 3 : Incorporation of 1.5% chili leaf powder in basal diet; T 4 : Incorporation of 2.5% chili leaf powder in basal diet. The results indicated that egg production and feed conversion ratio were not significantly affected. However, overall average feed intake significantly (p<0.05) reduced in hens supplemented with 2.5% chili leaf powder. Egg quality parameters viz., egg weight, shape index, shell weight percentage and shell thickness of eggs, egg albumen quality such as albumen height, albumen weight and Haugh unit were statistically similar among all the groups. The egg yolk quality parameters including yolk weight, yolk percentage, yolk index, yolk cholesterol and yolk triglycerides did not differ significantly among different treatment groups, however, egg yolk colour was significantly (p<0.05) improved in T 4 group, compared to T 1 group. While, egg yolk colour in treatment groups T 1 , T 2 and T 3 showed no significant difference. To conclude, supplementation of chilli leaf powder @ 2.5% can be used to improve egg yolk colour. Keywords: Chili leaf powder, Egg quality parameters, Production performance, Rhode Island Red laying hens. Ind J Vet Sci and Biotech (2022): 10.48165/ijvsbt.18.5.09