Effects of Sunflower Meal Supplementation as a Complementary Protein Source in the Laying Hen’s Diet on Productive Performance, Egg Quality, and Nutrient Digestibility

Ahmed A. Saleh,Mohamed Mohamed Soliman,Mohammed H. Alzawqari,Mustafa Shukry,Shaimaa Selim,Khairy Amber,Yahya Z. Eid,Ahmed El-Awady

doi:10.3390/su13063557

Ahmed A. Saleh, Mohamed Mohamed Soliman + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su13063557

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Abstract

The practical usage of untraditional feedstuffs such as sunflower meal (SFM) in laying hens nutrition in developing countries has received considerable attention. SFM is a by-product of the sunflower oil industry and has been progressively added to bird’s diets. Sunflower meal (SFM) is gaining great interest as a feed ingredient due to its eminent crude protein content, low anti-nutritional compounds, and low price. The current experiment was aimed to assess the production efficiency, egg quality, yolk fatty acids composition, and nutrient digestibility of laying hens fed SFM. A total of 162 Bovans Brown laying hens aged 60 weeks old were randomly allocated using a completely randomized design into three experimental groups of nine replicates each (n = six/replicate) for eight weeks. The dietary treatments involved a control (basal diet) and two levels of SFM, 50 and 100 g/kg feed. The dietary treatments did not influence live weight gain, feed intake, and egg mass. On one hand, the laying rate was increased; on the other hand, the feed conversion ratio and broken eggs rate of laying hens were decreased (p < 0.05) by the dietary inclusion of SFM. Dietary treatments had no effect on the egg’s quality characteristics except the yolk color and yolk height were larger (p = 0.01) for laying hens fed SFM compared with those fed the control. Dietary inclusion of SFM decreased (p < 0.05) the content of cholesterol in the egg yolk. Still, it increased the yolk contents of vitamin E, calcium, linoleic acid, linolenic acid, and oleic acid (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the dietary inclusion of SFM increased crude protein and calcium digestibility, but decreased the ether extract digestibility. In conclusion, our results suggested that the dietary inclusion of SFM, up to 100 g/kg at a late phase of laying, could improve the production performance, some of the egg quality traits, and nutrient digestibility while decreasing egg yolk cholesterol.

Highlights

In the practical poultry industry, higher feed ingredient prices have led to a closer consideration to seek less expensive agricultural by-products [1]
Non-significant changes in final body weight, body weight gain, feed intake, egg weight, and egg mass were observed among the dietary groups
An increase in egg production (p < 0.05) was noted in laying hens fed the sunflower meal (SFM) diets compared with those fed the control diet

Summary

Introduction

In the practical poultry industry, higher feed ingredient prices have led to a closer consideration to seek less expensive agricultural by-products [1]. Feed costs reflect much of the expenses, and Sustainability 2021, 13, 3557. Soybean meal (SBM) is one of the most popular sources of protein used in poultry diets. Nutritionists must choose the available ingredients to formulate cheap, balanced, and economically viable diets [4,5]. In this context, developing diet formulations with alternative ingredients is the best to overcome this problem and reduce feed costs, especially when these alternative ingredients are locally available

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