Effects of energy level and enzyme supplementation in wheat-based layer dietson hen performance and egg quality
Ciftci I; Yenice E; Gokceyrek D; Ozturk E
Abstract This experiment was carried out to examine the effects of energy level andenzyme supplementation of wheat-based diets compared with corn in laying hen diets on henperformance and egg quality. Experiment was conducted over 16 weeks with 27-wk-old Hisex Brownlaying hens. Hens were randomly assigned to five experimental diets in a single isolated controlgroup-2 (energy level) x 2 (enzyme supplementation)-factorial arrangement. Experimental groupsconsisted of corn diet (control), and wheat-based (600 g kg(-1)) diets at the normal (11.51 MJ/kgME, identical with the corn diet) and low energy levels (11.05 MJ/kg ME) with or without enzymesupplementation. Diets were fed in mash form. No significant interactions between energy level andenzyme supplementation on hen performance were observed. However, enzyme addition to wheat-baseddiets significantly improved laying rate, eggs mass and feed efficiency: the results were similar tothose of hens fed the corn diet. Final body weight gain, egg shape index, breaking strength, shellthickness and incidence of dirty eggs were not significantly affected by the dietary energy leveland enzyme supplementation. In the wheat-based diets, dirty eggs rate (2.07%) was higher than in thecorn diet (0.21%). There was no significant interaction between energy level and enzymesupplementation for egg yolk colour but enzyme addition to wheat-based diets increased egg yolkpigmentation, which was also lower than that of the corn diet. These results demonstrated that wheatcan replace corn in layer diets, and the addition of enzyme to wheat-based diets improved henperformance and egg yolk pigmentation. Energy enhancement of wheat by enzyme addition should beconsidered to achieve production and cost improvements in the formulation of layer diets.
Keywords Cereal; Xylanase; Egg production; Feed efficiency; Egg yolk colour;Beta-glucanase; Laying hen; Intestinal viscosity; Broiler chicks; Rye; diets; Barley; Availability;Bird; Age
Acta agriculturae Scandinavica. Section A, Animal science
0906-4702, Volume 53, Issue 3, 2003, Pages 113-119
