PERFORMANCE OF LAYING HENS FED MAIZE OR SORGHUM BASED DIETS CONTAINING DIFFERENT ENERGY LEVELS AND FEEDING SYSTEMS

• H. B. Usman

  Department of Animal Science, Federal University Dutsinma. Katsina state. Nigeria.

  Author

The effect of substituting maize with sorghum using different energy levels was studied on Isa Brown birds. Results showed that feeding whole sorghum sequentially decreased feed intake significantly (P<0.05). Using different feeding systems and raising the dietary ME levels from 2,300 to 2,600kcal/kg increased feed intake only when whole sorghum was fed in loose mix, while egg production and egg mass increased significantly (P<0.05) only when whole sorghum was fed sequentially. Sequential treatment had significantly (P<0.05) higher feed intake (123.1 g/b/d) compared to either the control (120.9 g/b/d) or the loose-mix (120.7 g/b/d) feeding systems under 2,300 kcal/kg diet. Egg production (%) was significantly (P<0.05) lower with the sequential treatment (58.6) compared to the control (68.5) and loose-mix (68.3) at 2,300 kcal/kg ME diet. Egg weight (g) was highest with the sequential feeding system (62.8g) when the diets contained 2,300 kcal ME/kg than the control diet (60.1g) while the sequential feeding system had significantly (P<0.05) lower egg mass (36.5) compared to either the control (41.1) and the loose-mix (41.6). At low ME diet (2,300 kcal/kg), FCR was better for the loose mix diet (2.92) compared to the control (2.95) and sequential (2.95) treatments at 2,300 kcal/kg ME while the interaction between energy levels and feeding systems showed significant (P<0.05) effect only with the sequential feeding system. The results indicate a more favourable response of laying birds to high energy diets when whole grains are offered sequentially. It was concluded that feeding whole sorghum in loose mix at the laying phase improved efficiency of feed utilisation.

1. H. B. Usman, Department of Animal Science, Federal University Dutsinma. Katsina state. Nigeria.

   Department of Animal Science, Federal University Dutsinma. Katsina state. Nigeria.

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