170 Effects of feeding different feed forms to laying hens in the deep litter on egg physical attributes during storage

Abstract In Nigeria, most feed for laying hens are in the form of mash. However, ingredients in mash are separable and could be selectively fed upon by hens. Therefore, the effects of feed forms on egg quality attributes were assessed in this study. 23-week old Lohmann Brown layers (n=720) housed in the deep litter system were randomly allotted to four feed forms (mash, pellet, crumble and pellet-crumble). At 37 week, 240 eggs were sampled and stored at ambient temperature which ranged from 25.3–26.5 oC and relative humidity of 65–67%. The physical characteristics were evaluated at days 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 of egg storage. The experiment was a 4x5 factorial arrangement in a completely randomized design. The forms of feed did not significantly (P>0.05) influence the yolk weight, Haugh unit, albumen height and weight. Significantly lighter (P < 0.05) yolk coloration was observed in eggs of hens on pellet while pellet-crumble was deeper. The egg weight loss in crumble was not significantly different (P>0.05) from the other forms though higher in mash (0.47%) and pellet-crumble (0.41%) but lower in pellet (0.33%). Egg weight, length, width, shell weight and thickness were not affected by feed forms (P>0.05). The duration of storage had no impact on the shape index of egg (P>0.05). Weight of eggs did not significantly (P>0.05) reduce during storage. Effect of feed forms on shell weight during storage was not significant (P>0.05). Feed forms did not affect egg external attributes in this study.