Discolorations in Eggs When Cottonseed Meal Feeding was Stopped before the Pullets Laid

Abstract

Abstract THE reports of Heywang et al. (1954 (1955) and of others (Lamon et al., 1917; Frampton, 1961) show that cottonseed meal contains components which cause discolorations in cold stored eggs when laying hens are fed diets containing cottonseed meal. Because of these cottonseed meal is usually considered unsatisfactory in laying diets. On the other hand, cottonseed meal may be used safely as the source of some of the protein in diets for broilers and fryers. However, there appears to be no published experimental data indicating whether pullets raised for egg production might be fed cottonseed meal during most of their growing period prior to egg production without discoloration subsequently appearing in their eggs. Information on this subject is reported in this paper. PROCEDURE The experiment was started early in June with 13 groups, each containing ten day-old White Leghorn pullets, and was in progress for about seven months. The groups…