Study on Efficacy of Methionine Addition in Laying Hens Fed Corn-Soy-Palm Kernel Based Diet

Abstract

STUDY ON EFFICACY OF METHIONINE ADDITION IN LA YING HENS FED CORN-SOY-PALM KERNEL BASED DIET by M. Ridla, Sumiati, J. Jachja, T. Toharnlat, IG. Permana and N. Ramli, Department of Animal Nutrition and Feed Science. Faculty of Animal Science. Bogar Agricultural University. Bogar ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of methionine supplementation either in drinking water or diet on feed convertion ratio, henday egg production from hens age 21-25 weeks, egg production, egg weight, percentage of egg yolk, egg albumen, eggshell, as well as eggshell thickness in laying hens fed corn-soy-PKM based diet. Three hundred and fifty commercial laying hens age 16 weeks with initial weight of 1626.7±38.7 g were assigned randomly in a completely randomized design to one of seven dietary treatments. The treatments were as follows: (a) deficient in methionine without the addition of methionine; (b, c, d) deficient in methionine with addition of methionine in the diets at level of 0.05, 0.10, and 0.15 giving total methionine content in the rations of 0.33, 0.38, and 0.43%; (e, f, g) deficient in methionine with addition of methionine in the drinking water at level of 0.1 0, 0.15, and 0.20%. Diets and water were offered ad libitum. Data were analyzed statistically using analysis of variance (ANOV A) according to the procedure of SAS. The average intake of methionine of S2 during five weeks of the experiment was 388.8 mg/day/bird, while the average intake of methionine of SO and S 1 were less than the requirement, i.e., 276 mg/day/bird and 330 mgldaylbird, respectively. The intake of methionine of S3, S5, and S6 was over the requirement (432 mgldaylbird) and this amount of methionine could decrease the perfonnances of the hens. Supplementation of 0.1 % methionine in the diets (S2, total methionine in the diet was 0.38%), and 0.05% in the drinking water gave the best results in terms of hen-day egg production, feed conversion ratio, egg weight, albumin weight, and shell weight. It is concluded that methionine should be added to corn-soy-palm kernel based poultry diets as much as 0.1 % in diet and 0.05% in the drinking water. Keywords: corn-say-palm kernel, methionine, egg production.