Influence of Energy Level and Glycine Supplementation on Performance, Nutrient Digestibility and Egg Quality in Laying Hens

Sixty four, 30-week-old, Lohmann Brown-Lite laying hens were randomly allocated to one of four treatments with eight replicates per treatment and two hens per replicate for a 10 week study. The control diet was a high energy (11.81 MJ/kg) diet and the moderate energy (11.39 MJ/kg) diets were formulated dropping the level of animal fat. The three moderate energy diets were fed either unsupplemented (0.0%) or supplemented with 0.05 or 0.10% glycine. There were no significant differences (p>0.05) in hen-day egg production, egg weight, feed intake or feed conversion between birds fed the unsupplemented moderate energy and high energy diets. Significant differences were detected concerning egg components and quality measurements as assessed by albumen percentage (p = 0.02), yolk weight (p = 0.02), yolk percentage (p