Response of laying hens fed on a restricted isocaloric intake basis to oil supplementation of a low‐fat ration

Abstract

AbstractDept. of Agricultural Chemistry, Queen's University, Belfast and Ministry of Agriculture, N. IrelandTwo experiments are described in which varying levels of corn oil or cod liver oil were added to the diet of birds previously maintained from one day old on a low‐fat cornflour‐based diet containing 0–35% linpleic acid. All diets were fed at three different metabolisable energy (ME) intake levels, the birds being fed a weighed quantity of food daily.Neither ME intake nor dietary corn oil or cod liver oil supplementation had any significant influence on egg size. Increasing levels of dietary ME increased the number of eggs laid, the response being very rapid and occurring within the first 28 days. Any effect of dietary com oil was exerted mainly through the size of eggs laid, although these differences in egg size were not great enough to attain statistical significance. The response to dietary corn oil was not as rapid as the response to dietary ME and no significant effect of corn oil was observed until the second 28‐day period. Dietary corn oil increased the efficiency of conversion of dietary ME to egg product but dietary cod liver oil was without effect.