RYE AS A REPLACEMENT FOR WHEAT IN LAYING HEN DIETS

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted in which rye replaced wheat as the cereal component of laying hen diets. In the first experiment laying hens were fed graded levels of Puma rye (0.0, 19.5, 39.0 and 78.0% of the diet) substituted for Glenlea wheat throughout a 280-d egg-production cycle. Rye-based diets supported comparable productive performance to wheat with respect to hen-day egg production, feed conversion, and body weight gain when the level of rye was 39.0% or less of the diet; however, performance declined at the higher rye level. For the second experiment Glenlea wheat was replaced by Gazelle rye (0.0, 23.3, 46.7 and 70.0% of the diet) when laying hens were in a latter phase of egg production, with the trial period commencing at 44 wk. Substitution of rye for wheat did not significantly affect egg production, feed consumption, egg weight, shell elasticity, or tibia ash at lower rye levels (< 46.7%), although there were indications of poorer performance at high rye levels (70.0%). Increasing the nutrient concentration of diets containing high levels of rye was not an effective means of alleviating poor performance induced by feeding rye in either experiment. Key words: Rye, laying hens