Effect of low protein diets on egg quality and egg composition of Vanaraja laying hens

Abstract

The research work was done to study the effect of feeding low levels of protein on egg quality traits in Vanaraja laying hens (35-46 weeks). A total of 108 Vanaraja laying hens were selected at random at 35 weeks of age. The birds were distributed into four treatment groups with three replicates of nine birds in each replicate pen in a complete randomized design. According to the experimental groups, four levels of dietary protein (13, 14.5, 16 ad 17.5% crude protein) with similar energy content (2,600 metabolisable energy kcal/kg) were given to the hens and the ratio of lysine and methionine to CP were kept constant in all the diets. There was no influence of dietary CP level on any of the egg quality parameters except albumen and yolk percentage in eggs at 38 weeks of age and egg shell percentage which was highest (P<0.05) at 16% CP diet compared to 13 and 14.5% CP diets at 42 weeks of age. The protein and fat content of the eggs did not vary significantly due to variation in protein content of the diets.