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Daily Feed Intake and Performance of Laying Hens Grouped According to Their Body Weight1
EDUCATION AND PRODUCTION Daily Feed Intake and Performance of Laying Hens Grouped According to Their Body Weight1 R. H. HARMS, P. T. COSTA, and R. D. MILES Department of Poultry Science, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611 (Received for publication July 6, 1981) ABSTRACT Two experiments were conducted to investigate the relationship of laying hen body weight at 28 weeks to daily feed intake (DFI) and hen performance. Significant differences in the body weight of hens in the various body weight groups (BWG) were found at the beginning and end of the experiments. The differences in body weight were found to be related to DFI which increased in a linear fashion as body weight increased. It was found that 6.80 and 6.56 g more feed was consumed daily by each hen for each 100 g of body weight, in Experiments 1 and 2, respectively. Egg production did not differ significantly between BWG. Egg weight, egg mass, and feed efficiency were shown to be related to hen body weight. Egg weight and egg mass significantly increased as body weight increased. Feed efficiency, however, showed an inverse trend, decreasing in a linear fashion as body weight increased. (Key words: feed intake, laying hens, body weight) 1982 Poultry Science 61:1021-1024
INTRODUCTION Harms et al. ( 1 9 7 8 ) designed a feeding p r o gram for commercial layers in which t h e nutrie n t c o n t e n t of t h e diet was changed as feed intake changed. These w o r k e r s suggested a r e q u i r e m e n t for several n u t r i e n t s based on daily feed intake ( D F I ) . Christmas and Harms ( 1 9 8 1 , unpublished data) tested t h e adequacy of these specifications for four strains of hens of varying b o d y weight. T h e y f o u n d as m u c h as 12% difference in feed intake b e t w e e n t h e heaviest and lightest strains. However, t h e specifications suggested b y Harms et al. ( 1 9 7 8 ) had a margin of safety of 13 t o 15% for all strains. It has been previously suggested t h a t pullets should be housed according t o b o d y weight (Quisenberry et al., 1967; T h o r n b e r r y and Quisenberry, 1968). These a u t h o r s reported t h a t b o d y weight at 173 days was positively correlated with final b o d y weight. S o m e pullets w o u l d n o t be sexually m a t u r e a t 173 days of age; therefore, it was suggested t h a t 2 8 weeks of age m i g h t be b e t t e r for separating pullets i n t o weight groups. T h e p u r p o s e of t h e experim e n t s in this paper was t o d e t e r m i n e t h e rela-
1
Florida Agricultural Experiment Station Journal Series No. 4011.
tionship of b o d y weight at 28 weeks and feed intake.
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Experiment 1. F r o m a flock of approxim a t e l y 1 0 0 0 28-week-old Dekalb X L pullets, 6 0 0 were selected, and placed in one of t h r e e b o d y weight groups (BWG): light (L), m e d i u m (M), and heavy (H). A diet (Table 1) f o r m u lated t o contain t h e daily n u t r i e n t r e q u i r e m e n t s of an e x p e c t e d intake of 99.5 g / h e n / d a y was -fed for a pre-experimental period of 3 w e e k s t o d e t e r m i n e t h e actual daily feed intake for each BWG (Table 2 ) . T w e n t y replicates of 10 hens were r a n d o m l y assigned t o each of t h e three BWG individually h o u s e d in 20.3 X 4 5 . 7 cm wire cages. T h e h e n s were fed t h e e x p e r i m e n t a l diets on an ad libitum basis t h r o u g h o u t t h e 16-week e x p e r i m e n tal period. T h e diets (Table 1) were f o r m u l a t e d t o furnish t h e daily n u t r i e n t r e q u i r e m e n t s a t each D F I of each BWG as d e t e r m i n e d during t h e pre-experimental period. Water was furnished t o t h e hens using a c o n t i n u o u s flowt h r o u g h system for 15 min at intervals of 2 h r from 0 6 0 0 to 2 0 0 0 hr. Natural and artificial light furnished 15 hr of c o n t i n u o u s lighting daily. Egg p r o d u c t i o n and hen m o r t a l i t y were recorded daily. Every 4 t h day of t h e experim e n t a l period all eggs were collected and
1021
1022
HARMS ET AL. TABLE 1. Diet composition based on expected daily feed intake (DFI) Expected DFI/hen/day (g) 95.00
99.50 1
•
•
104.00
108.50
(/»)
Ingredients Ground yellow corn Soybean meal (48.5%) Ground limestone Dicalcium phosphate (18.5% P and 22% Ca) Microingredients' Iodized salt DL-methionine
70.15 19.97 6.99 1.85 .50 .40 .35 .11
71.84 18.71 6.73 1.75 .50 .38 .35 .10
73.49 17.50 6.50 1.60 .48 .35 .35 .08
74.84 16.46 6.33 1.49 .45 .35 .35 .07
Calculated analysis Crude protein (%) Metabolizable energy (kcal/g) Calcium (%) Total phosphorus (%) Cystine and methionine (%) Lysine (%)
15.97 2.89 3.13 .68 .64 .78
15.49 2.91 3.00 .65 .61 .74
15.04 2.94 2.88 .62 .58 .71
14.54 2.96 2.79 .60 .56 .68
'Supplied per kilogram of feed: 6000 IU vitamin A; 2200 ICU vitamin D 3 ; 2.2 mg menadione dimethylpyrimidinol bisulfite; 4.4 mg riboflavin; 1.32 mg pantothenic acid; 39.6 mg niacin; 499 mg choline chloride; 22 Mg vitamin B 12 ; 125 mg ethoxyquin; 50 mg manganese; 50 mg iron; 6 mg copper; .198 mg cobalt; 1.1 mg iodine; 35 mg zinc.
individually weighed. Feed c o n s u m p t i o n by replicate was measured at 2-week intervals. Egg mass (percent egg p r o d u c t i o n X egg weight) and feed efficiency (DFI/egg mass) were also calculated t o b e t t e r evaluate overall hen performance. During t h e experimental period each hen was individually weighed at t h e end of
w e e k s 8 and 1 6 . All statistical analyses and tests of probabilities used in this paper were based o n t h e procedure of t h e Statistical Analysis System (SAS) of N o r t h Carolina State University (Barr et al., 1979). Experiment 2. T w o h u n d r e d and forty non-
TABLE 2. Body weight and daily feed intake (DFI) of pullets grouped according to body weight (Experiment 1) Body weight (g) Group
Initial
Range
End
DFI (g)
1483c 1588b 1730*
100.1 C 103.5 b 108.9 a
Experiment 1 c
Light Medium Heavy
1301 - 1500 1501 - 1580 1581 - 1780
1411 1546b 1684a
Extra-light Light Medium Heavy
1310 1481 1561 1661
1415 d 1533 c 1620 b 1738 a
Experiment 2 -
1480 1560 1660 1840
96.2 d 101.8 C 105.4 b 109.5 a
' ' ' Means within a column and experiment with different superscripts are significantly different (P<.05). 1
Final weights were not obtained in Experiment 2.
FEED INTAKE OF LAYING HENS
1023
TABLE 3. Daily feed intake (DFI), egg production, egg weight, egg mass and feed efficiency (FE) of hens in different weight groups and fed according to their feed intake
Group
DFI (g)
Egg production, hen/day <%)
Light Medium Heavy
100.3 C 105. l b 109.9s-
83.3 a 84.1a 84.0 a
Extra light Light Medium Heavy
———^——————— 96.ld 83.9 a 103.lc 84.4 a 106.0 b 83.5 a a 108.9 83.3 a
Egg weight (g)
Egg mass (g)
FE (g/g)
Experiment 1 60.3 C 61.5b 63.6 a
50.1c 51.7b 53.4 a
2.00 c 2.03 b 2.07 a
Experiment 2 59.2C 61. l b 61.9b 63.la
49.5b 51.5a 51.6 a 52.5 a
^940 2.00 b 2.05 a 2.07 a
Means within a column and experiment with different superscripts are significantly different (P<.05).
selected, 28-week-old Hy-Line W-36 pullets which h a d been individually weighed were placed into four BWG: extra-light (EL), L, M, and H, of six replications of 10 hens each, and fed a basal diet (Table 1) for a pre-experimental period, were fed ad libitum throughout a 16-week experimental period (Table 1). Individual body weights were obtained at the beginning and end of the experimental period. All other experimental procedures were the same as outlined for Experiment 1.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Experiment 1. The range in body weight for the L, M, and H groups was 1301 to 1500, 1501 to 1580, and 1581 to 1780 g, respectively (Table 2). The average body weight for the L, M, and H groups was 1411, 1546, and 1684 g, respectively. During the 3-week pre-experimental period, feed intake for the L, M, and H BWG was 100.1, 103.5, and 108.9 g, respectively. During the experimental period, DFI was significantly different between the three BWG (Table 3). The DFI increased linearly as body weight increased. Differences of feed intake resulted in approximately 18 kcal of metabolizable energy intake between each BWG. A similar trend was found for DFI, where differences of approximately 5.0% were found between each BWG. Daily consumption of sulfur amino acids (cystine and methionine) and lysine, however, remained approximately the same be-
tween the three BWG. This was as a result of the dietary treatments formulated to supply the daily requirements of these essential amino acids at varying energy levels. Hen-day egg production was not significantly different between BWG. Egg weight and egg mass were related to the hen's body weight, and significant differences were found between all three BWG. Approximately 1 and 2 g differences in egg weight were found between the L to M and M to H BWG, respectively. The H BWG was significantly less efficient in converting feed into eggs than the other two groups. In this study, as body weight increased, feed efficiency decreased. The body weights of the three groups increased as the experiment progressed through the 16th week (Table 2). Experiment 2. Body weight was significantly different for the four groups at the beginning of the experiment (Table 2). There were no significant differences in egg production between the four BWG (Table 3). Significant differences were found between BWG for egg weights and feed efficiency. Egg mass numerically increased as body weight increased from the EL to the H BWG. The increase observed in egg mass between BWG was due more to the influence of egg weight between groups rather than rate of lay. The data from these experiments indicate body weight of laying hens at 28 weeks of age is related to future feed intake. This difference in feed intake would be of economic im-
HARMS ET AL.
1024
p o r t a n c e in feed f o r m a t i o n , since t h e n u t r i e n t c o m p o s i t i o n of t h e feed for each group could be adjusted t o m e e t t h e daily r e q u i r e m e n t for all n u t r i e n t s .
REFERENCES Barr, A. J., J. H. Goodnight, J. P. Sail, W. H. Blair, and D. M. Chilko, 1979. SAS Guide. 1979 ed. SAS Inst. Inc., Raleigh, NC.
Harms, R. H., C. R. Douglas, R. B. Christmas, B. L. Damron, and R. D. Miles, 1978. Feeding commercial layers for maximum performance. Feedstuffs 50(8):23-24. Thornberry, Frederick D., and J. H. Quisenberry, 1968. The effects of pullet body weight at housing on laying hen performance. Poultry Sci. 47:1727. (Abstr.) Quisenberry, J. H., J. W. Bradley, J. R. Cathey, F. D. Thornberry, and S. A. Nagi, 1967. Body weight and laying performance. Pages 302—303 in Proc. Assoc. S. Agric. Workers. (Abstr.)
INTRODUCTION Harms et al. ( 1 9 7 8 ) designed a feeding p r o gram for commercial layers in which t h e nutrie n t c o n t e n t of t h e diet was changed as feed intake changed. These w o r k e r s suggested a r e q u i r e m e n t for several n u t r i e n t s based on daily feed intake ( D F I ) . Christmas and Harms ( 1 9 8 1 , unpublished data) tested t h e adequacy of these specifications for four strains of hens of varying b o d y weight. T h e y f o u n d as m u c h as 12% difference in feed intake b e t w e e n t h e heaviest and lightest strains. However, t h e specifications suggested b y Harms et al. ( 1 9 7 8 ) had a margin of safety of 13 t o 15% for all strains. It has been previously suggested t h a t pullets should be housed according t o b o d y weight (Quisenberry et al., 1967; T h o r n b e r r y and Quisenberry, 1968). These a u t h o r s reported t h a t b o d y weight at 173 days was positively correlated with final b o d y weight. S o m e pullets w o u l d n o t be sexually m a t u r e a t 173 days of age; therefore, it was suggested t h a t 2 8 weeks of age m i g h t be b e t t e r for separating pullets i n t o weight groups. T h e p u r p o s e of t h e experim e n t s in this paper was t o d e t e r m i n e t h e rela-
1
Florida Agricultural Experiment Station Journal Series No. 4011.
tionship of b o d y weight at 28 weeks and feed intake.
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Experiment 1. F r o m a flock of approxim a t e l y 1 0 0 0 28-week-old Dekalb X L pullets, 6 0 0 were selected, and placed in one of t h r e e b o d y weight groups (BWG): light (L), m e d i u m (M), and heavy (H). A diet (Table 1) f o r m u lated t o contain t h e daily n u t r i e n t r e q u i r e m e n t s of an e x p e c t e d intake of 99.5 g / h e n / d a y was -fed for a pre-experimental period of 3 w e e k s t o d e t e r m i n e t h e actual daily feed intake for each BWG (Table 2 ) . T w e n t y replicates of 10 hens were r a n d o m l y assigned t o each of t h e three BWG individually h o u s e d in 20.3 X 4 5 . 7 cm wire cages. T h e h e n s were fed t h e e x p e r i m e n t a l diets on an ad libitum basis t h r o u g h o u t t h e 16-week e x p e r i m e n tal period. T h e diets (Table 1) were f o r m u l a t e d t o furnish t h e daily n u t r i e n t r e q u i r e m e n t s a t each D F I of each BWG as d e t e r m i n e d during t h e pre-experimental period. Water was furnished t o t h e hens using a c o n t i n u o u s flowt h r o u g h system for 15 min at intervals of 2 h r from 0 6 0 0 to 2 0 0 0 hr. Natural and artificial light furnished 15 hr of c o n t i n u o u s lighting daily. Egg p r o d u c t i o n and hen m o r t a l i t y were recorded daily. Every 4 t h day of t h e experim e n t a l period all eggs were collected and
1021
1022
HARMS ET AL. TABLE 1. Diet composition based on expected daily feed intake (DFI) Expected DFI/hen/day (g) 95.00
99.50 1
•
•
104.00
108.50
(/»)
Ingredients Ground yellow corn Soybean meal (48.5%) Ground limestone Dicalcium phosphate (18.5% P and 22% Ca) Microingredients' Iodized salt DL-methionine
70.15 19.97 6.99 1.85 .50 .40 .35 .11
71.84 18.71 6.73 1.75 .50 .38 .35 .10
73.49 17.50 6.50 1.60 .48 .35 .35 .08
74.84 16.46 6.33 1.49 .45 .35 .35 .07
Calculated analysis Crude protein (%) Metabolizable energy (kcal/g) Calcium (%) Total phosphorus (%) Cystine and methionine (%) Lysine (%)
15.97 2.89 3.13 .68 .64 .78
15.49 2.91 3.00 .65 .61 .74
15.04 2.94 2.88 .62 .58 .71
14.54 2.96 2.79 .60 .56 .68
'Supplied per kilogram of feed: 6000 IU vitamin A; 2200 ICU vitamin D 3 ; 2.2 mg menadione dimethylpyrimidinol bisulfite; 4.4 mg riboflavin; 1.32 mg pantothenic acid; 39.6 mg niacin; 499 mg choline chloride; 22 Mg vitamin B 12 ; 125 mg ethoxyquin; 50 mg manganese; 50 mg iron; 6 mg copper; .198 mg cobalt; 1.1 mg iodine; 35 mg zinc.
individually weighed. Feed c o n s u m p t i o n by replicate was measured at 2-week intervals. Egg mass (percent egg p r o d u c t i o n X egg weight) and feed efficiency (DFI/egg mass) were also calculated t o b e t t e r evaluate overall hen performance. During t h e experimental period each hen was individually weighed at t h e end of
w e e k s 8 and 1 6 . All statistical analyses and tests of probabilities used in this paper were based o n t h e procedure of t h e Statistical Analysis System (SAS) of N o r t h Carolina State University (Barr et al., 1979). Experiment 2. T w o h u n d r e d and forty non-
TABLE 2. Body weight and daily feed intake (DFI) of pullets grouped according to body weight (Experiment 1) Body weight (g) Group
Initial
Range
End
DFI (g)
1483c 1588b 1730*
100.1 C 103.5 b 108.9 a
Experiment 1 c
Light Medium Heavy
1301 - 1500 1501 - 1580 1581 - 1780
1411 1546b 1684a
Extra-light Light Medium Heavy
1310 1481 1561 1661
1415 d 1533 c 1620 b 1738 a
Experiment 2 -
1480 1560 1660 1840
96.2 d 101.8 C 105.4 b 109.5 a
' ' ' Means within a column and experiment with different superscripts are significantly different (P<.05). 1
Final weights were not obtained in Experiment 2.
FEED INTAKE OF LAYING HENS
1023
TABLE 3. Daily feed intake (DFI), egg production, egg weight, egg mass and feed efficiency (FE) of hens in different weight groups and fed according to their feed intake
Group
DFI (g)
Egg production, hen/day <%)
Light Medium Heavy
100.3 C 105. l b 109.9s-
83.3 a 84.1a 84.0 a
Extra light Light Medium Heavy
———^——————— 96.ld 83.9 a 103.lc 84.4 a 106.0 b 83.5 a a 108.9 83.3 a
Egg weight (g)
Egg mass (g)
FE (g/g)
Experiment 1 60.3 C 61.5b 63.6 a
50.1c 51.7b 53.4 a
2.00 c 2.03 b 2.07 a
Experiment 2 59.2C 61. l b 61.9b 63.la
49.5b 51.5a 51.6 a 52.5 a
^940 2.00 b 2.05 a 2.07 a
Means within a column and experiment with different superscripts are significantly different (P<.05).
selected, 28-week-old Hy-Line W-36 pullets which h a d been individually weighed were placed into four BWG: extra-light (EL), L, M, and H, of six replications of 10 hens each, and fed a basal diet (Table 1) for a pre-experimental period, were fed ad libitum throughout a 16-week experimental period (Table 1). Individual body weights were obtained at the beginning and end of the experimental period. All other experimental procedures were the same as outlined for Experiment 1.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Experiment 1. The range in body weight for the L, M, and H groups was 1301 to 1500, 1501 to 1580, and 1581 to 1780 g, respectively (Table 2). The average body weight for the L, M, and H groups was 1411, 1546, and 1684 g, respectively. During the 3-week pre-experimental period, feed intake for the L, M, and H BWG was 100.1, 103.5, and 108.9 g, respectively. During the experimental period, DFI was significantly different between the three BWG (Table 3). The DFI increased linearly as body weight increased. Differences of feed intake resulted in approximately 18 kcal of metabolizable energy intake between each BWG. A similar trend was found for DFI, where differences of approximately 5.0% were found between each BWG. Daily consumption of sulfur amino acids (cystine and methionine) and lysine, however, remained approximately the same be-
tween the three BWG. This was as a result of the dietary treatments formulated to supply the daily requirements of these essential amino acids at varying energy levels. Hen-day egg production was not significantly different between BWG. Egg weight and egg mass were related to the hen's body weight, and significant differences were found between all three BWG. Approximately 1 and 2 g differences in egg weight were found between the L to M and M to H BWG, respectively. The H BWG was significantly less efficient in converting feed into eggs than the other two groups. In this study, as body weight increased, feed efficiency decreased. The body weights of the three groups increased as the experiment progressed through the 16th week (Table 2). Experiment 2. Body weight was significantly different for the four groups at the beginning of the experiment (Table 2). There were no significant differences in egg production between the four BWG (Table 3). Significant differences were found between BWG for egg weights and feed efficiency. Egg mass numerically increased as body weight increased from the EL to the H BWG. The increase observed in egg mass between BWG was due more to the influence of egg weight between groups rather than rate of lay. The data from these experiments indicate body weight of laying hens at 28 weeks of age is related to future feed intake. This difference in feed intake would be of economic im-
HARMS ET AL.
1024
p o r t a n c e in feed f o r m a t i o n , since t h e n u t r i e n t c o m p o s i t i o n of t h e feed for each group could be adjusted t o m e e t t h e daily r e q u i r e m e n t for all n u t r i e n t s .
REFERENCES Barr, A. J., J. H. Goodnight, J. P. Sail, W. H. Blair, and D. M. Chilko, 1979. SAS Guide. 1979 ed. SAS Inst. Inc., Raleigh, NC.
Harms, R. H., C. R. Douglas, R. B. Christmas, B. L. Damron, and R. D. Miles, 1978. Feeding commercial layers for maximum performance. Feedstuffs 50(8):23-24. Thornberry, Frederick D., and J. H. Quisenberry, 1968. The effects of pullet body weight at housing on laying hen performance. Poultry Sci. 47:1727. (Abstr.) Quisenberry, J. H., J. W. Bradley, J. R. Cathey, F. D. Thornberry, and S. A. Nagi, 1967. Body weight and laying performance. Pages 302—303 in Proc. Assoc. S. Agric. Workers. (Abstr.)