Effects of wheat offal replacement of maize with or without enzyme addition on laying performance and egg quality characteristics

Abstract

The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the effects of wheat offal (WO) replacement of maize with or without enzyme addition on laying performance and egg quality characteristics. Eight weeks feeding trial was conducted using thirty six black harco hens out of fifty that was purchased for the experiment. The thirty six laying hens was randomly allocated to three dietary treatments. Wheat offal was used to replace maize at 0 and 40 percent replacement level with or without enzyme addition. Diet one served as the control. Diet two was 40% WO replacement of maize with enzyme. Diet three was 40% WO replacement of maize without enzyme. The experiment was completely randomized design. Results showed that only feed and egg shell thickness from diet two reflected significant (P<0.05) difference on both laying performance and egg quality characteristics of laying hens. This showed that enzymes addition to laying hens diet with 40% WO replacement of maize can be recommended to poultry farmers that are into commercial egg production whose target is shell thickness to reduce egg loss due to low shell thickness.

Keywords: layers, enzymes, wheat offal, eggs