Wheat and sorghum can substitute for corn in layer diets

Abstract

A feeding trial was conducted to demonstrate the comparative feeding values of common cereal grains - corn, wheat, sorghum and their combinations in soybean meal-based layer diets. The corn-soybean meal-based diet served as the reference diet and corn served as the base energy grain source. At the end of the 168-d production period, there were no statistically significant differences in the general performance and egg composition of 315 H&N layers attributable to the treatments. However, the feed cost to produce a dozen eggs was lower (P<0.05) in the wheat+sorghum-soybean meal-based diet (85.89%) compared with the relative cost of the corn-based diet. Pigment supplementation was cost-effective and improved (P<0.05) the yolk color scores of hens fed wheat (619%), sorghum (396%) and wheat+sorghum (515%)-based diets. Wheat, sorghum or their combination can be used to partially or totally replace corn as the principal energy grain source in layer diets without any significant effect on performance and egg composition of layers.

Source or Periodical Title

Philippine Agricultural Scientist

ISSN

317454

Page

365-371

Document Type

Article

Subject

Corn, Egg mass, Feed conversion, Hen day egg production, Sorghum, Wheat, Yolk color score

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