EFFECT OF USING NUTS MEAL IN DIET FORMULATIONS ON LAYER PERFORMANCE AND EGG QUALITY

Tatiana Dumitra Panaite, Rodica Diana Criste, Mariana Ropota, Margareta Olteanu, Monica Mitoi, Iulia Varzaru, Arabela Untea

Abstract
   The nuts meal obtained from oil extraction is among the plant by-products of interest as feed ingredients, due to their high feeding value. The chemical determinations have shown that this batch of nut meal had a high protein content (29.13%), with 11.49 MJ/kg metabolisable energy, also being a natural source of antioxidants (112.536 mM Trolox/g antioxidant capacity). From the total content of crude fat (15.15%) of the nut meal, 70.79% are polyunsaturated fatty acids. An experiment was conducted for 4 weeks on 80 Lohmann Brown layers (75 weeks), assigned to two groups (C and E) according to their body weight. The birds were housed in an experimental hall with controlled micro climate and 16 h light regimen. Feed intake, feed conversion ratio, laying percentage and egg weight were monitored throughout the experiment. At the end of the trial, 18 eggs were collected from each group, and egg quality was determined. The laying percentage was significantly (p≤0.05) higher in group E (83.66±8.36%), (nut meal treatment), than in group C (77.58±9.25%). Omega 3 fatty acids concentration in the yolk of the eggs from group E (2.44 g/100g total fatty acids) was significantly (p≤0.05) higher than in group C (1.48 g/100g total fatty acids). The antioxidant capacity in the yolk was higher (p≤0.05) in group E (88.404 mM Trolox/g) than in group C (79.171 mM Trolox/g), while the pH was higher (p≤0.05) in group C (6.46) than in group E (6.31).

Key words: layers, nut meal, performance, eggs, quality