FEED UTILIZATION AND THE COMPOSITION OF ORGANS OF THREE STRAINS OF LAYING HENS FED CONSTANT ZINC AND VARYING LEVELS OF CALCIUM

Abstract

At about 16 mg, zinc per 100 gm of diet feed consumed by laying hens increased until a level of 2.0% dietary calcium. Increasing the dietary calcium to 2.0% also stimulated more egg production. When less than 2.0% dietary calcium was fed more feed was required to produce a dozen egg and the eggs were of small sizes. The egg shell strength and the bone calcium were improved when at least 2.0% dietary calcium was given to the laying hen. These results were correlated with tissue accumulation of zinc thus establishing that for profitable egg production in the tropics 2.0% dietary calcium is required when 16 mg zinc per 100 grains of feed is given