Inluence of some nutritional factors on productive performance and digestive tract traits in commercial brown-egg laying pullets
2009
Frikha, M.
The objective of this Master Thesis was to study the influence of cereal type, energy level, and diet feed form on productive performance and development of the gastro intestinal tract (GIT) in commercial brown egg-laying pullets from 1 to 120 d of age. In experiment 1, 4 diets were factorially arranged with 2 cereals (corn vs. wheat) and 2 feed forms (mash vs. pellets) from 1 to 45 d of age. From 46 to 120 d of age all diets were offered in mash form. Cumulatively, pullets fed the corn diets had higher body weight (BW) gain than pullets with wheat diets. Also, pullets fed pellets consumed more feed and had higher BW gain than those fed mash. Feeding pellets reduced the RW of the digestive tract and the gizzard as well as the relative length of the small intestine at both ages. In experiment 2, there were 6 diets arranged factorially with 3 concentrations of AMEn and 2 feed forms (mash vs. pellets) from 1 to 45 d of age. Cumulatively, BW gain and FCR improved as the AMEn of the diet increased. Pullets fed pellets had higher BW gain, than pullets fed mash. The RW of the gizzard was highest for pullets fed the low energy diets in meal form. Wheat can be used in diets for pullets with only a slight reduction in BW. Pelleting the feeds from 1 to 45 d of age and the use of high density energy diets are recommended practices to achieve adequate target BW at 120 d of age. However, pellets and high AMEn diets might hinder the development of the GIT, which might affect feed intake of laying hens early in the production cycle
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