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Effect of main cereal of the diet and particle size of the cereal on productive performance and egg quality of brown egg-laying hens in early phase of production¹

Departamento de Producción Animal, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040, Spain

³ Corresponding author: gonzalo.gmateos{at}upm.es

A total of 960 Lohmann Brown laying hens were used to study the effects of the main cereal of the diet and geometric mean diameter (GMD) of the cereal on productive performance and egg quality from 20 to 48 wk of age. The experiment was a completely randomized design with 6 treatments arranged factorially with 2 cereals (dent corn vs. durum wheat) and 3 GMD of the cereal (hammer-milled to pass through 6-, 8-, or 10-mm screens). Each treatment was replicated 8 times (20 hens per replicate). All diets were formulated to be isonutritive and contained 50% of either corn or wheat. Productive traits were recorded every 4 wk and egg quality was measured at 48 wk of age. The only significant effect detected was for feed intake (P < 0.05) that was greater for hens fed coarse-ground cereals (10-mm screen) than for hens fed medium and fine-ground cereals (8- or 6-mm screen). None of the egg quality parameters studied were influenced by dietary treatment. We conclude that neither type of cereal nor GMD affected productive performance or egg quality of young brown hens, except for feed intake that increased with the coarser particle size.

Key Words: corn • durum wheat • particle size • laying hen performance • egg quality

¹ Supported by funding through Project CB-CDTI 2006 (Ministry of Science and Innovation, Madrid, Spain) and Cantos Blancos S.A. (Guadalajara, Spain).

² Current address: Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agricultura, Cairo University, Giza 12613, Egypt.

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				M. Frikha, H. M. Safaa, M. P. Serrano, X. Arbe, and G. G. Mateos Influence of the main cereal and feed form of the diet on performance and digestive tract traits of brown-egg laying pullets Poult. Sci., May 1, 2009; 88(5): 994 - 1002. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]