Abstract
The effect of including whole Prosopis (Prosopis juliflora) pods meal (WPPM) in the diet of Hy-line laying hens at a level of 30% by weight, with or without autoclaving and with or without a multi-enzyme complex supplement, was investigated. The productive performance, external and internal egg quality, and economic efficiency were recorded.
After grinding WPPM, a part of it was autoclaved at 120 degrees C and 1 kg/cm(2) pressure for 30 minutes. Thus, there were five isocaloric, isonitrogenous diet treatments: the control diet, 30%WPPM, 30%WPPM+autoclaving, 30% WPPM+0.5 g/kg multi-enzymes, and 30%WPPM+autoclaving+0.5 g/kg multi-enzymes. For each treatment (24 hens per treatment) eight replicates were included in the study, each with three laying hens. Hens chosen were of similar age, weight and laying rate, and were fed one of the five diets from 22 to 34 weeks of age. The experimental diets were formulated to meet nutritional requirements for laying hens. The multi-enzymes complex contained enzymes that target fibre, hemicellulose, pectin, phytic acid, starch, proteins, and lipids in the diet. The mixture also contained oligosaccharides that reduce the viscosity and improve digestibility.
The results indicated that inclusion of WPPM in the diet of laying hens at 30% adversely affected egg weight, egg mass, feed conversion rate (FCR) and yolk colour. Autoclaving of WPPM significantly increased egg weight and egg mass and also improved FCR, although not significantly, compared to the non-autoclaved 30%WPPM diet, which led to similar performance as the control group. There was no significant effect of the different treatments on external and internal egg quality, with the exception of yolk colour, which was paler in all treatments compared to the control. Surprisingly, yolk colour was less intense in the group fed on 30%WPPM+multi-enzymes compared with the 30%WPPM group. Economic efficiency was not affected by any of the different treatments. It can be concluded that autoclaved WPPM could be included in the laying hen diets at a level of 30% by weight without deleterious effects on laying performance, egg quality and economic efficiency.