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Acta Prataculturae Sinica ›› 2011, Vol. 20 ›› Issue (5): 183-191.

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Effect of adding cellulase to alfalfa meal ration on production performance, egg quality and nutrient digestibility on layers

XIA Su-yin1,  WANG Cheng-zhang1*,  ZHAN Fa-bai1,  YAN Xue-bing1,  LIU Qi-shuan1, CHEN Yan-rong1,  LI Hai-yan1,    

  1. 1.College of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450002, China;
    2.Rural Economic Development Center, Luo Chen Village, Guang Hill County 465436, China
  • Online:2011-10-20 Published:2011-10-20

Abstract:

The objectives of this study were to evaluate production performance, egg quality and nutrient digestibility of layers adding cellulase to alfalfa meal ration. An experiment was conducted using a total of 210 Highland Brown Layers aged 40 weeks to study those of index. Layers were randomly divided into 7 groups, 3 replicates for each group and 10 for each replicate. One of these groups was used as the control group, others were used as treatment groups including group I to group VI. The control group was fed the basic diet, group I to group VI were fed the diets containing alfalfa meal and cellulase in different levels (3%, 5%, 7%, 7%+0.1%cellulase, 7%+0.2% cellulase, 7%+0.3% cellulase), respectively. By a series experiment of feeding and digestion, the production performance, egg quality and nutrient digestibility of layers were measured in each group. The results showed that, 1) Layers fed diets added with alfalfa meal and cellulase had no significant difference for laying rate and egg weight (P>0.05) than that of control group, however, average daily feed intake of the group III and feed/egg ratio of the group V were significantly decreased comparing with the control. 2)Addition of alfalfa meal and cellulase had no significant effects on egg white height, egg yolk pH, egg white pH, egg shape index, egg yolk index, and eggshell relative weight (P>0.05), however, those of yolk color and eggshell strength, Haugh unit were significantly improved comparing with control, which egg yolk color was significant higher (P<0.01) than that of control group and egg yolk color increased with the increasing of alfalfa meal. 3)The diets of adding alfalfa meal and cellulase significantly reduced the yolk malondialdehyde (MDA) content, which extend the shelf life of eggs. 4)There were no significant difference of dry matter, calcium, phosphorus digestibility among all groups (P>0.05), but the apparent digestibility of crude protein, the crude fat, crude fiber and acid fiber in the group V increased by 14.79% (P>0.05), 8.48% (P>0.05), 15.91% (P>0.05), 4.17% (P>0.05), respectively,comparing with the group III. Generally, there were no significant difference of production performance, but it improved the egg quality, egg yolk color and digestibility of crude fibre and acid detergent fiber (ADF) as adding alfalfa meal and cellulase, recommending that 7% alfalfa meal+0.2% cellulase in the diet of layers.

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