Purpose Layers were fed with the diet formulated with different proportion of rubber seed kernel in order to evaluate their effect on laying performance and egg quality.
Method Seventy-two healthy Hy-Line Brown laying hens at 26-week old were randomly divided into six groups with 4 replicates per group and 3 hens per replicate. The control was fed a basic daily diet mainly comprising corn and soybean meal. Experimental group Ⅰ-Ⅴ were fed the same diet formulated with 5%, 10%, 15%, 20% and 25% rubber seed kernel, respectively. All diets contained basically the same nutrition level during a 10-week experimental period.
Result There was insignificant difference in the laying rate, the feed/egg ratio and the abdominal fat rate between the experimental groups and the control group (P>0.05). Group III~IV had significantly lower daily feed intake than the control group (P<0.05) but group I and II had not (P>0.05). Compared with the control group, there was insignificant difference in the average egg weight in group I to IV (P>0.05) except that group Ⅴ had a significant decrease (P<0.05), and there was insignificant increase in the body weight in the experimental groups (P>0.05) except group Ⅱ (P<0.05). All the experimental groups had no significant differences in eggshell thickness, egg-shaped index, eggshell weight, egg yolk weight, eggshell/egg ratio, egg yolk/egg ratio, cholesterol content and malondialdehyde content compared with the control group (P>0.05).
Conclusion These results showed that the diet formulated with 5% to 25% rubber seed kernel did not affect the laying rate, the feed/egg ratio and the egg quality, but decreased the daily feed intake and, at the additional level of 25% rubber seed kernel, reduced the average egg weight.
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