Abstract
This experiment was conducted to study the effect of grouping layers at 38 weeks of age according to their body weight on production traits and whether these groups have certain needs for protein.
Three groups of body weight (< 1 500, 1 520, -1 700, and > 1 720 g) and 2 levels of protein 16.0 and 18.4% were used in this experiment to form 6 treatment combinations. There were 4 replications per treatment, each replicate consisted of 20 birds.
Results revealed that with the exception of feed efficiency, there was no interaction between the 2 factors in any of the criteria measured.
Birds on higher protein level performed better than those on the lower level in all the traits measured. Hen-day egg production increased as birds decreased in weight while egg weight and feed increased as birds increased in weight.
It is concluded that culling large size-hens (> 1720g) at the age of 38 weeks, might be of some benefits to the producers in hot climate regions.