Effects of Increasing Blood Meal and Reducing Synthetic Lysine in the Diet on Performance of Layers

Abstract

A total of seventy-two (72), thirty-three weeks old Nera black strain of laying birds were used to study the effects of increasing blood meal and reducing synthetic lysine in the diet on the performance of layers in a completely randomized design experiment. The birds were divided into three treatment groups of 24 birds each and each group was further divided into 3 replicates of 8 birds per replicate. Three experimental diets (T₁, T₂ and T3) were used. T₁ contained 2.200 % blood meal and 0.250 % synthetic lysine; T₂, 3.600 % blood meal and 0.125 % synthetic lysine; and T₃, 5.000 % blood meal and 0.000 % synthetic lysine. Lysine contribution from blood meal and synthetic lysine alone in T₁, T₂ and T₃ diets were 0.448 %, 0.449 % and 0.450 %, respectively. The crude protein content of the diets ranged from 17.800 – 18.509 % while the energy content ranged from 10.915 to 11.061 MJ/Kg ME. The birds were reared on deep litter following conventional practice. Feed and water were provided ad-libitum. Eggs were collected and recorded daily on the replicate basis. At the end of the experiment, two eggs from each replicate were weighed and used to calculate average egg weight. Cost of feed production was calculated and used to calculate feed cost per dozen eggs. Results showed that birds with 5.0 % blood meal without synthetic lysine converted feed to eggs more efficiently than the other groups despite lower feed cost recorded by this group. It was concluded that laying birds can be fed up to 5.0 % blood meal in their diets without synthetic lysine to enhance economic gains.