author(s)
Desislava Abadjieva, Desislava Ankova and Svetlana Grigorova

abstract
The study was conducted to evaluate the effect of a milled artichoke (Cynara scolumus L.) on some productive and reproductive performance of laying hens.In this experiment a total of 40 ISA Brown hens at the initial age of 38 weeks were randomly distributed into two groups for experimental period of 50 days. The only difference between both groups was that the herb was included in the diet of the experimental group. The artichoke level had no clear effect on productive performance and may not be enough to cause remarkable changes. Results showed that inclusion of 3 g/kg artichoke in diet increased significantly fertilityand hatchability of eggs (P< 0.05) of experimental hens. The average ovaries weight and length were significantly higher in experimental group in comparison with control group (P< 0.05).Ovaries in experimental group established significant more small yellow follicles than that of the control group (P< 0.05). It can be concluded that 3 g/kg artichoke can be used in the diet of layer hens to get good reproductive performance.