Ability of commercial laying hens producing different egg outputs to meet their methionine and energy requirements when fed the same diet.
An experiment was conducted to determine whether commercial laying hens with different egg outputs could meet their Met requirement when fed the same diet. Three groups of hens were selected with either low, medium, and high egg output. Body weight of hens was positively related to egg output. As egg output increased, feed consumption increased. This resulted in essentially the same amount of energy consumed per gram of egg content (EC) for all three groups. Egg weight was greatest with hens producing the greatest EC. The Met intake of hens was increased with increased EC; however, the Met per gram of EC was not different for the three groups of hens. These data indicate that the Met and energy requirements of commercial layers can be met with one feed when individual hens produce different amounts of EC.
Harms
R H
RH
Department of Dairy and Poultry Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville 32611-0930, USA.
Russell
G B
GB
D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology; D002645:Chickens / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D004032:Diet / Q000592:standards / Q000662:veterinary*; D004435:Eating / Q000502:physiology; D004531:Eggs / Q000592:standards; D002149:Energy Intake / Q000502:physiology; D004734:Energy Metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D008715:Methionine / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D010058:Oviposition / Q000502:physiology*; D011202:Poultry Products / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011897:Random Allocation
D008715:Methionine