Sand intake by laying hens and its effect on egg production parameters

Abstract

Soil intake may be the most prominent source of environmental contaminants for free range and organic hens, but there are no quantitative data concerning soil intake by domestic hens. Consumption of soil of 14-32 g a day can be estimated from literature, but such a dilution of nutrient intake seems incompatible with high productivity. In this study laying hens were fed pelleted diets with 0%, 10%, 20%, 25% and 30% of sand addition to determine its effect on productivity. Feed intake, feed and nutrient (feed minus sand) conversion ratio, egg production, egg weight and body weight gain were measured over a 4-week period. Acid insoluble ash concentration in the faeces was measured to determine the accuracy of estimating the soil ingestion by the soil-ingestion equation for wildlife as a way to determine soil ingestion of free range and organic hens under practical circumstances. The hens were able to compensate the dilution of the diet with 20%, 25% and 30% of sand by increasing their feed intake. Feed intake increased significantly and feed to egg conversion ratio decreased significantly with increasing sand levels in the diet. The nutrient to egg conversion ratio of the diet without sand tended to be worse than for the diets with sand, presumably due to the total absence of coarse material in the diet. There were no differences in egg production and egg weight between hens fed the different diets but body weight gain was significantly lower for the hens fed the diets with 20%, 25% and 30% of sand. Estimation of sand ingestion was done by the soil-ingestion equation for wildlife. Provided that the actual dry matter digestibility coefficient of the nutrient part of the diet is taken into account, estimating the soil ingestion according to the soil-ingestion equation for wildlife seems an appropriate way to determine soil ingestion for free range and organic hens under practical circumstances.

The Effects of Diets Containing Different Level of Non-Starch Polysaccharides on Performance and Cannibalism in Laying Hens

“…It is likely that birds on the bentonite diet ate a great deal more to compensate for the energy dilution caused by inclusion of 50 g/kg bentonite. The result is in agreement with the finding by van der Meulen et al (2008) and van Krimpen et al (2009) who found that birds were able to compensate for decreased energy density by increasing their feed intake. In addition, increasing feed intake was linear with the increased in energy dilution (van Krimpen et al, 2009).…”

Effect of four processed animal proteins in the diet on digestibility and performance in laying hens

“…Therefore, it was assumed that the nutritional values of the different diets were similar. Hence, these differences in feed intake were not expected because it is generally known that laying hens adjust their feed intake to their nutritional needs (van Krimpen et al, 2007(van Krimpen et al, , 2008(van Krimpen et al, , 2009Van der Meulen et al, 2008). It is unknown which specific property in the meat and bone meals was responsible for the reduced feed intake levels.…”

Evaluation of diatomaceous earth on production, anatomical traits and quality of eggs in Japanese quail

“…For internal use, montmorillonite is effective in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome (12) and for the prevention of aflatoxicosis (13 and 14) indicated that feeding laying hens with 7.5% defatted diatom microalgae biomass in the corn-soybean meal diet for 8 weeks had no adverse effect on their health, egg production, or egg quality, but 15% inclusion reduced feed intake, egg production, and efficiency of feed utilization. Researchers (10) Concluded that it would also be worthwhile to separate the effects of DE and montmorillonite in the diet,while (15) reported that hens increased their feed intake in response to increasing amount of sand in their diet. This compensation allowed them to maintain their egg production and egg weight but BW gain was still compromised.…”