Evaluation of the effects of rations with different levels of metabolizable energy on performance of laying hens

Subject Areas : Veterinary Clinical Pathology

علی Nobakht ^{1 *} , H.R Hassanzadeh ² , سامان Mahdavi ³

1 - Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture Science, Islamic Azad University, Marage Branch, Marage, Iran
2 - Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture Science, Islamic Azad University, Marage Branch, Marage, Iran
3 - Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture Science, Islamic Azad University, Marage Branch, Marage, Iran

Received: 2009-04-28 Accepted : 2009-10-23 Published : 2009-05-22

Keywords: Performance, laying hen, Egg traits, energy level,

Abstract :

 This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of rations with different levels of energy on performance of laying hens. The experiment was conducted with two hundred and fifty six laying hens of commercial Hi-Line W-36 strain in a completely randomized design with 4 treatment and 4 replicates (16 laying hens in each replicate). Treatments included: (1) diet with amount of metabolizable energy recommended by NRC 1994 (as control group),   (2) diet with 10% higher level of metabolizable energy than recommended by NRC 1994, (3) diet with 10% lower level of metabolizable energy than recommended by NRC 1994 and (4) diet with 15% lower level of metabolizable energy than recommended by NRC 1994 that were used for 10 weeks (from 41 to 51 weeks of age). The results indicated that the amount of feed intake was significantly different among treatments (p<0.05). The highest amount of feed intake (130.50 g) was observed in treatment four with 15% lower level of metabolizable energy than recommended by NRC 1994. The amount of feed price was also significantly different between treatments (p<0.05). The lowest feed price per kilogram of egg produced (5705 Rials) was observed in treatment four with 15% lower level of metabolizable energy than recommended by NRC 1994. There were no significant differences in egg traits among treatments. It can be concluded that using diets with 15% lower level of metabolizable energy than recommended by NRC 1994 in laying hens, can reduce feed costs without affecting egg traits.    

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