Effect of banana peels as a substitute for white maize grain on laying performances and egg quality of Bovans Brown chickens

The study was conducted to evaluate the effect of replacing white maize grain (WMG) by dried banana peels (DBP) on egg production and egg quality parameters at Poultry Unit, University of Gondar, Ethiopia. A total of 96 Bovans Brown layers (28 weeks old age and initial average body weight of 1.60 ± 0.15 kg) were allocated into four treatments with two replications and each replication had 12 layers. The white maize grain (WMG) portion of the concentrate mixture was substituted by 0, 6, 12 and 18% of DBP for T 1 , T 2 , T 3 and T 4 treatments, respectively. Feed intake, egg production, egg weight and egg mass were recorded daily. The feed intake was significantly higher for T 4 (108.2 g) compared to T 1 , T 2 and T 3 (101.2, 104.1 and 103 g, respectively) diets. A significant difference (P