Effects of Additional Calcium Additive on Egg Production, Feed Efficiency and Egg Shell Quality in Laying Hens

摘要

Forty-wk-old 480 ISA Brown layers were used in a 10-wk feeding trial to investigate the effects of additional various levels of limestone to a low calcium diet without any calcium additives on the performance of laying hens. There were significant differences in average egg weight (P<0.05) without any specific trend among treatments and hen-day egg production was not influenced by the dietary treatments. Daily intake and conversion per kg egg of feed excluded the calcium supplement were significantlyreduced (P<0.05) as the level of additional calcium supplement increased in both types of layer diet, while those of feed included the calcium source were significantly increased (P<0.05) as the level of additional calcium supplement increased. Egg specific gravity, eggshell breaking strength and thickness were increased as the level of additional calcium supplement increased, however the significant differences were found only in egg specific gravity. It would be possible to reduce the daily feed intake and feed conversion and to improve the eggshell quality by feed the low calcium diet devoid of calcium supplement from the conventional laying hen diet and by supply the additional calcium source at 3 to 4 p.m. instead of the continuous feeding of conventional high calcium diet.