Effect of Storage and Fatty Acid Esters on the Utilization of Xanthophyll from Marigold Meal by Laying Hens

The feeding of two different harvests of marigold meal on an equivalent analyzed basis to laying hens produced no difference in NEPA numbers, β-carotene equivalents, and fan yolk scores for their eggs. This indicates that there are no structure rearrangements in the xanthophylls which are traceable to the storage of the marigold meal. Marigold meal samples were shown to lose from 21–28% of the xanthophyll content over a 10 month period in a refrigerated environment. Hens fed extracts from saponified marigold meal produced eggs with NEPA numbers 15% higher than did those from hens fed nonhydrolyzed marigold meal. The biological availability of marigold meal was 51% for nonhydrolyzed marigold and 66% for saponified marigold compared to β-apo-8′-carotenoic ethyl ester stabilized beadlets. The digestibilities of marigold and alfalfa meal xanthophylls were 88% and 96%, respectively, when fed to hens at a concentration of 33 mg./kg. diet. The hydrolysis of the 61% natural esterified xanthophyll in marigold meal increased the digestibility to 97%. The data suggest the esterified xanthophylls in marigold meal decreases the bioavailability for egg yolk pigmentation.