Egg quality traits of layers fed sugarcane press residue with biotechnological agents.

摘要

An experiment was conducted to investigate the influence of inclusion of sugarcane press residue (SPR) as a feed ingredient in layer diets on egg quality. 3 experimental diets were formulated by incorporating SPR at 0, 5 and 10%. Another set of 9 diets were prepared by supplementing each diet with lipid utilizing agents (lipase and lecithin) and/or NSP degrading enzymes. Each of the 12 diets was offered to triplicate groups of 4 laying birds each. The trial lasted for 84 days divided in to 3 periods of 28-days. Egg quality characteristics, such as egg shape index, albumen index, Haugh unit scores, yolk index and yolk colour were statistically similar (P > 0.05) among different treatments at different stages of the experiment. However, the influence of different treatment diets on egg shell thickness was significant (P < 0.01) on the 28th and 56th days of the trial. No significant differences were observed between different levels of SPR and between combinations of biotechnological agents, apart for shell thickness and yolk colour. Thus SPR can be effectively utilized as a source of Ca and P in layers.