Performance of laying pullets fed on cereal-free diets based on maize offal, cassava peel and reject cashew nut meal.
1. A 70-d experiment was conducted to determine the response of 26-week-old laying pullets to cereal-free diets based on maize offal, cassava peel and full-fat cashew nut meal (CNM) in comparison with a standard 550 g maize/kg reference diet. The 4 test diets all contained 315 g CNM/kg 232.5, 155.0, 77.5 and 0.0 g/kg of maize offal in combination with 77.5, 155.0, 232.5 and 315.0 g/kg of cassava peel, respectively. 2. Pullets fed on the 4 CNM-based diets consumed (P<0.05) less food than those fed on the reference diet; they also had lower (P<0.05) rates of lay, produced less (P<0.05) egg mass, had lower (P<0.05) food conversion efficiencies and their eggs had a lighter (P<0.05) yolk colour. Pullets fed some of the CNM-based diets also gained more (P<0.05) weight, the heaviest (P<0.05) being birds reared on the diet containing 315 g/kg cassava peel. Egg weight, shell thickness and albumen height from all eggs were similar. Pullets fed on the CNM-based diets had inferior (P<0.05) retention of dry matter and protein. 4. It was concluded that feeding full-fat CNM allowed for high dietary inclusion rates of cassava peel and maize offal and the resultant diets, which contained no maize, supported satisfactory performance of laying hens.
Department of Animal Science, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
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Onifade
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Tewe
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Okunola
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Fanimo
D000821:Animal Feed; D000818:Animals; D002645:Chickens; D019662:Cucurbitaceae; D004528:Egg Shell; D004531:Eggs / Q000032:analysis / Q000592:standards; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences; D009754:Nuts; D010047:Ovalbumin / Q000032:analysis; D010058:Oviposition; D003313:Zea mays
D010047:Ovalbumin