PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS, NUTRIENTS DIGESTIBILITY AND COST BENEFITS OF LAYING HENS FED GOLDEN MORN WASTE AS REPLACEMENT FOR MAIZE

Abstract

The study investigated the effects of inclusion levels of Golden Morn Waste (GMW) as a replacement for maize on the  performance of laying hens. A total of 96 Oba Marshal strain laying hens of average weight 1.48Kg were allotted to four experiment diets containing 0%, 10%, 20% and 30% inclusion levels of GMW. Eight laying hens were replicated three times per experimental diet in a completely randomized design. The result of the chemical analysis showed that GMW is higher in DM, CP, CE, EE, Ca and P compared to Maize. The replacement of Maize with GMW had significant (P<0.05) positive effects on feed intake, weight gain, hen day production and feed/dozen egg produced. The highest performance was obtained from hens fed 30% GMW. The highest nutrients digestibility was also obtained from laying hens fed 30% GMW. The cost of feed per dozen egg produced was also significantly (P<0.05) lower for laying hens offered 30% GMW. The study concluded that the inclusion of GMW in the diet of laying hens up to 30% improves the performance of the laying hens and reduces cost of feeding