Response of Laying Hens to Dietary Full-Fat Soybeans Steamed for Different Time Periods

Abstract

Laying hens (56 weeks old) were fed for 8 weeks on diets containing 15.5% of full-fat soybeans steamed for 0, 5, 10, 15 or 20 minute. Average feed intake and egg production increased, with increase in length of time of steaming. Feed per dozen eggs decreased with increase in time of steaming dietary full-fat soybeans (P<0.05). However, there was no significant effect of the dietary treatments on egg weight. Increasing the time of steaming dietary soybeans improved the retention of both protein and fat. It is concluded that steaming of soybeans did alleviate the problems associated with the feeding of raw soybeans.

Keywords: Full-fat Soybeans, Timed Steaming, Laying Hens