Improvement in Interior Egg Quality and Reduction in Liver Fat in Hens Fed Brewers Dried Grains

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted with cage layer hens to determine the effect of various levels of dietary brewers dried grains on liver fat accumulation and performance. The first experiment was conducted from September to February and the second from May to August. Liver fat per unit of body weight was significantly reduced by including 20% brewers dried grains in both pelleted and unpelleted diets below that observed with the corresponding basal diets in the summer experiment, but not in the winter experiment. An intermediate response was obtained with 10% brewers dried grains in the summer experiment.Adding 20% brewers dried grains significantly improved interior egg quality as measured by Haugh units in both experiments. Smaller increases in Haugh units were observed with lower levels of brewers dried grains.Egg production was not significantly different among the dietary treatments in the summer experiment, but was significantly lower with 20% brewers dried grains in the winter experiment. Adding lysine to the diet with the 20% brewers dried grains slightly improved rate of production, but not significantly (P > 0.05). Differences in egg weight, body weight change, fertility, hatchability of fertile eggs, egg shell quality, and feed consumption per hen per day were not significantly different among the dietary treatments in either experiment. Daily intake of calculated metabolizable energy calories per hen was reduced with 10% or more brewers dried grains in both experiments. The results indicate that economic evaluation of brewers dried grains for layer diets based solely on metabolizable energy content (1760 kcal./kg.) underestimates its value.