The Influence of Feeding Yellow-, Green- and Brown-Seeded Peas on Production Performance of Laying Hens

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the feeding value of yellow-, green- and brown-seeded peas as protein and energy supplements in laying hen diets. In experiment 1, all three types of peas were included in laying hen diets at 0, 200, 400 and 600 g kg -1 replacing wheat and soya bean meal. Layers fed diets containing peas at 200 g kg -1 produced more (P ≤ 0.05) eggs, had higher (P ≤ 0.05) egg mass output and better (P ≤ 0.01) feed conversion than those fed the wheat soya bean meal control diet. With 400 g peas kg -1 in diets, egg production, egg mass and feed conversion were similar (P ≥ 0.05) to the control diet. Total replacement of soya bean meal with peas (600 g peas kg -1 in diets) reduced (P ≤ 0.01) egg production, egg mass and feed conversion. A progressive (P ≤ 0.01) improvement in yolk colour as the level of peas in the diet increased was observed. Shell quality decreased (P ≤ 0.05) with increasing levels of yellow or brown peas in the diets, however, it seemed not to be affected by green peas. Daily feed intake, egg weight and mortality rates were not affected by dietary treatments. The influence of feeding diets containing yellow or brown peas supplemented with varied levels of methionine on production performance of laying hens was investigated in experiment 2. The dietary treatments consisted of a 400 g kg -1 yellow or brown pea diet supplemented with three levels of methionine to 100, 115 and 130% of the NRC requirements. Methionine supplementation to either 15 or 30% above NRC requirement for laying hens had no significant (P ≥ 0.05) effect on all production parameters. It can be concluded that the inclusion of yellow, green or brown peas into laying hen diets up to 400 g kg -1 does not affect production performance. The NRC recommendation of methionine requirement for laying hens is adequate to support maximum egg production for diets containing moderate quantities of peas.