Is sequential feeding of whole wheat more efficient than ground wheat in laying hens?

Abstract

The impact of sequential feeding of whole or ground wheat on the performance of layer hen was investigated using ISABROWN hens from 19 to 42 weeks of age. In addition, the effect of reduced dietary energy content of a complete diet was also investigated. Four treatments were tested. Whole wheat was alternated with a protein-mineral concentrate (balancer diet) in a treatment (sequential whole wheat: SWW), while another treatment alternated ground wheat (sequential ground wheat: SGW) with the same balancer diet. The control (C) was fed a complete layer diet conventionally. Another treatment (low energy: LE) was fed a complete diet conventionally. The diet contained lower energy (10.7 v. 11.6 MJ/kg) compared to the C. Each treatment was allocated 16 cages and each cage contained five birds. Light was provided 16 h daily (0400 to 2000 h). Feed offered was controlled (121 g/bird per day) and distributed twice (2 3 60.5 g) at 4 and 11 h after lights on. In the sequential treatment, only wheat (whole or ground) was fed during the first distribution and the balancer diet during the second distribution. Left over feed was always removed before the next distribution. The total feed intake was not different between SWW and SGW, but the two were lower than C (P , 0.05). Wheat intake was however, lowered with SGW compared to SWW (P , 0.05). Egg production and egg mass (EM) were not different between treatments. Egg weight was lower with SGW than with SWW (P , 0.05), but the two were similar to C. Body weight (BW) was lowered (P , 0.01) with SGW relative to SWW and C, SWW BW being also lower than the C one. The efficiency of egg production was increased (P , 0.01) with the SWW and SGW relative to the control. Birds fed LE had higher feed intake (P , 0.05) but they had similar egg production and EM compared to the two sequential treatments. The efficiency of feed utilization was also reduced (P , 0.01) with LE compared to SWW and SGW. It was concluded that sequential feeding is more efficient than conventional feeding. In addition, whole wheat appeared more efficient than ground wheat in terms of egg and BW.

Adaptation of wheat and protein-mineral concentrate intakes by individual hens fedad libitumin sequential or in loose-mix systems

“…The higher wheat intake when birds were fed with a loose-mix relative to those fed 295 sequentially agree with earlier observations under different conditions (Umar Faruk et al, 296 2010). Increased wheat intake has been associated with larger feed particle preference in 297 laying hens (Picard et al, 1997;Umar Faruk et al, 2008). Portella et al (1988) observed a 298 greater disappearance of larger particles when birds were fed on regular crumbles, and the 299 smaller particles disappeared only as the concentration of large ones decreased.…”

“…A reduction in protein intake is usually accompanied by a reduction in both egg 338 production and egg weight (Morris and Gous, 1988), and protein intakes were lower with 339 loose-mix treatment. Ad libitum access to the diets gave higher wheat consumption in the loose-mix birds (Umar Faruk et al, 2008), which resulted in a low overall protein intake. 341…”

“…A total of 149 ISA Brown layer hens were trained (Forbes and Covasa, 1995) from week 16 116 to 18 to get them habituated to the feeding systems studied. The specific objective was to 117 adapt the sequentially-fed birds to whole-wheat intakes before they reached point of lay 118 (Umar Faruk et al, 2008). The animals were housed in a three-tier battery having individual 119 cages (25 x 38cm).…”

Modulation of energy and protein supplies in sequential feeding in laying hens

“…In the morning, lower feed intake might be because of the regulation on energy in the diet (Gunawardana et al , 2009 ; Perez-Bonilla et al , 2012 ). Increased apparent metabolizable energy content of the diet reduced feed intake to maintain an optimal level of energy ingested (Valkonen et al , 2008 ), supporting the assumption that feed intake depends on the level of energy in the diet at the day scale. In SF, even if the level of energy is high in the morning and low in the afternoon, hens seem to be able to regulate their feed intake to have a same quantity of energy intake compared with continuous diet.…”

“…In SF, even if the level of energy is high in the morning and low in the afternoon, hens seem to be able to regulate their feed intake to have a same quantity of energy intake compared with continuous diet. Moreover, reduced feed intake, while maintaining identical laying performance, induced significant improvement of FCR (Grobas et al , 1999 ; Valkonen et al , 2008 ). These results might support the improvement in FCR for hens fed sequentially with a high-energy fraction in the morning and a high protein one in the afternoon.…”