Substitution of palm kernel meal for ground corn in layer diets 2. Laying period

Kuprasert, S.; Chinajariyawong, C.; Watanasit, S.; Wanichapichart, W. . Faculty of Natural Resources. Dept. of Animal Science

Substitution of palm kernel meal for ground corn in layer diets 2. Laying period

2001

Kuprasert, S. | Chinajariyawong, C. | Watanasit, S. | Wanichapichart, W. (Prince of Songkla Univ., Songkhla (Thailand). Faculty of Natural Resources. Dept. of Animal Science)

Experiment was conducted to study the effects of substitution of palm kernel meal (PKM) for ground corn on the productive performances, egg quality and feed cost of egg production in layers. One hundred and sixty pullets (18 weeks old) from the previous experiment were continued feeding 7 dietary treatments (6 pullets/replication and 4 replications/treatment), i.e. corn-based diet (control), 10, 20, 30 percent PKM and 10, 20, 30 percent PKM plus methionine and lysine until they reached 33 weeks old. When methionine and lysine were supplemented to the diets, levels of PKM did not affect the productive performances of layers in terms of their ages at first laying, egg production, egg weight, feed efficiency and feed consumption, although the 10 and 20 percent PKM groups tended to start laying earlier than the group fed 30 percent PKM. When the comparions among all treatments were taken into account, the egg productions of the groups given methionine and lysine were significantly (P0.05) higher than others and the highest egg production was obtained from the group fed 20 percent PKM+methionine and lysine (80.39 percent). The three supplemented groups also had significantly (P0.05) higher egg weight than the groups given 10 and 20 percent PKM. With methionine and lysine supplementation, animals had better (P0.05) feed efficiency than those fed PKM-diets without methionine and lysine but did not differ (P0.05) from the control group. Animals fed 20 and 30 percent supplemented with methionine and lysine had significantly (P0.05) higher feed intakes than other groups. Egg quality was not significantly (P0.05) different among all feeding regimes except for egg yolk color-score appeared to decrease with increasing PKM level. Cost of egg production (feed cost/kg. egg) was lower (average 2.10 baht) with methionine and lysine supplementation, especially average cost of the groups given 20 and 30 percent PKM+methionine and lysine was 0.64 baht lower than that of the control group. From these results, it is concluded that 20 percent PKM was the optimum level for layers when supplemented with methionine and lysine. This level can reduce the ground corn by about 40 percent compared to control diet without any significant adverse effect on the productive performances and egg quality of layers

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