Abstract
The effect of different dietary levels of dried eggs (DE) without or with shell and/or premix on the performance of laying strain chicks was investigated during the starter period (2-8 wk of age). Rejected eggs were collected and then were dried at 55 degrees C. DE were included with or without shell at three levels (2, 4 and 6%) without or with premix and fed from 2 to 8 wk of age. Thus, a factorial arrangement 3 x 2 x 2 plus a control group without or with premix addition was used. This resulted in a total of 14 experimental treatments. Each treatment was replicated 4 times of 8 chickens each, thus a total of 448 Hy-line chickens were utilized. Chemical and amino-acid analyses were determined for DE. Growth performance, mortality and lymphoid organs were determined.
Growth was not affected by level of DE and/or premix removal, meanwhile growth significantly increased due to shell removal of the DE. There was a stepwise improvement in feed conversion ratio (FCR) with increasing DE level. The improvement amounted to 5.8, 6.8 and 11.6% compared to the control group at 4 and 6% DE. Relative weight of lymphoid organs was not significantly affected by different dietary levels of DE without or with shell and/or premix. Removal of egg shell significantly increased plasma total protein, albumin, globulin and cholesterol, while decreased plasma total lipid. Premix removal significantly decreased plasma total protein, albumin, globulin and cholesterol, while increased plasma total lipid. Level of DE had a significant effect on plasma total protein, albumin, globulin, total lipid and cholesterol. DE at 6% significantly increased plasma globulin, while significantly decreased plasma albumin and total lipid. In conclusion, up to 6% of DE can be included in the layer chicks during 2-8 wk of age without adverse effect on productive performance.