Open AccessFEED UTILIZATION AND THE COMPOSITION OF ORGANS OF THREE STRAINS OF LAYING HENS FED CONSTANT ZINC AND VARYING LEVELS OF CALCIUM
Author(s) -
B. K. Ogunmodede,
E. G. Ijagbuji
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
nigerian journal of animal production
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 0331-2062
DOI - 10.51791/njap.v4i2.2290
Subject(s) - calcium , zinc , laying , eggshell , composition (language) , zoology , biology , food science , chemistry , ecology , linguistics , physics , philosophy , organic chemistry , astronomy
At about 16 mg, zinc per 100 gm of diet feed consumed by laying hens increased until a level of 2.0% dietary calcium. Increasing the dietary calcium to 2.0% also stimulated more egg production. When less than 2.0% dietary calcium was fed more feed was required to produce a dozen egg and the eggs were of small sizes. The egg shell strength and the bone calcium were improved when at least 2.0% dietary calcium was given to the laying hen. These results were correlated with tissue accumulation of zinc thus establishing that for profitable egg production in the tropics 2.0% dietary calcium is required when 16 mg zinc per 100 grains of feed is given