Abstract:
The study was conducted to evaluate the effects of different levels of orange flesh sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) root meal (OFSPRM) on egg production, egg quality, fertility and hatchability of egg, embryonic mortality and economic feasibility on White leghorn layers at Haramaya University Poultry Farm for 90 days. Ninety six White leghorn (WL) layers at thirty-two weeks of age with an average initial body weight of 1176.88± 36.32 g were randomly distributed to four treatments, each replicated three times with eight layers and one cock per replication in complete random design (CRD). The chickens were managed on a deep litter system during experimental period. The four treatment rations were formulated using OFSPRM as replacement for maize the level of 0% (T1 control), 5% (T1), 10% (T3) and 15% k (T4). Chicken were offered a weighed amount of feed and refusal was collected and weighed the next morning. Weight of experimental chicken was taken at the beginning and at the end of the experiment. The samples of feed ingredient OFSPRM and formulated diets were subjected to chemical analysis before the actual experiment began. All data were subjected to analysis of variance while yolk color was subjected to logistic regression. Chickens fed on diet (T4) (108.36g) was significantly (P < 0.01) higher Daily feed intake thanT3 (104.58g), T2 (101.21 g) and T1 (100.93g (SEM=0.77) respectively. There were non-significant differences (P > 0.05) among treatments in daily body weight gain, egg and yolk weight, yolk height, yolk diameter, yolk index, fertility, hatchability and embryonic mortality. Chickens on T4 had highest hen-day egg production (52.38%) among other treatments. T4 (25.6 g) has highly significant (P < 0.01) in egg mass and followed by T3 (22.1 g), T2 (17.87 g) and the control diet (17.28 g). The feed conversion ratio differs significantly (P < 0.01) between treatments that ranges from 4.24% to 5.85% and the lowest value recorded in T4 and T3 which was one of the indicators of best performances compared to other treatments. The best feed conversion ratio was obtained when diets were inclusion with 10kg and 15kg orange flesh sweet potato. The egg yolk color score increased was obtained when diets were inclusion with 15kg (T4) orange flesh sweet potato. Layers fed with T4 diet have the highest total return, better return per unit of expenditure, and superior egg sale to feed cost ratio. Based on the result of the experiment, it can be concluded that OFSPTM inclusion at 15% in layers diet enhanced overall performance layers without adversely affecting quality and economic profit
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