The effect of lysine and maize oil in growing and laying diets on the laying performance of crossbred pullets

Abstract

In a 3 x 3 x 3 factorial experiment, the laying performance of White Leghorn x Australorp pullets, given growing diets (8-20 weeks of age) with the factorial combinations of three levels (4.5, 5.0 and 5.5 g/kg) of lysine and three levels (0, 10 and 20 g/kg) of maize oil and laying diets with 0, 10 and 20 g/kg and 0, 15 and 25 g/kg maize oil from 20 to 52 and 52 to 60 weeks of age, respectively, was measured.In the growing phase, neither the lysine nor maize oil levels in the diet had a significant effect on growth performance. The level of lysine in the growing diet had no effect on subsequent laying performance. There were significant interactions between the levels of maize oil in the growing and laying diets on rate of lay, egg output and feed conversion efficiency. The inclusion of 20g/kg maize oil in the laying diet increased egg weight. None of the dietary treatments had a significant effect on the weights of egg components (yolk, albumen and shell).With increasing level of maize oil in the laying diet, the concentration of myristic, palmitoleic, oleic and linolenic acids in the egg yolk decreased and that of stearic, linoleic and arachidonic acids increased.