Energy levels and feed presentation for laying hens 2009-10 Page | 1
ENERGY LEVELS AND FEED PRESENTATION FOR LAYING HENS:EFFECTS ON PERFORMANCE AND INTAKE
Introduction
It is generally acknowledged that a laying hen adapts its intake relatively well to the energyvalue of its feed. This regulation is however far from perfect. The hen is influenced by the formin which the feed is presented, notably by particle size or granulation. Energy regulation ismodified by the presence of fat in the feed, which modify its form and palatability. Inversely, thecellulose content of the feed can be a limiting factor for intake when cellulose content is high,but it seems to play an important role in the behaviour of hens, notably feather pecking, and byits effect on the digestive tract and the digestibility of the feed.Moreover, the genotypes currently used have evolved considerably over the past 40 years. Itseems necessary to look once more at energy regulation.The aim of this summary is to give an overview of experiments carried out over recent years.Good knowledge of the factors regulating energy intake is essential for realising geneticpotential and lowering production costs.
1. Effect of feed dilution on performance
1.1. Materials and methods
In order to make a distinction between the effect of diluting feed and the effects of adding oil,we have taken up those experiments carried out over recent years where the fat content wascomparable.Diets where the increase in energy level resulted from an increase in fat content are studiedfurther below. We have taken up experiments carried out by Walker (1991), Peguri (1991), ISA,Joly (1997), Grobas (1999), Balnave (2000), Leeson (2001), Harms (2000) and van der Lee(2001).The principal characteristics of the diets are given in table 1. The majority of these experimentswere carried out with ISA brown hens. For each experiment, a regression method was used todetermine the effect of a 100 kcal energy level change on variations in energy consumption,laying rate and egg weight.Walker (1991) used diets where the energy level varied between 2560 and 2799 kcal, withoutadded fat, and between 2775 and 2990 kcal with a level of 3% added fat. Peguri (1991)compared 4 energy levels at different temperatures; the feeds were diluted with sand andcellulose. The results obtained between 16°C and 27°C were used for this study.In the experiment carried out by ISA, 3 energy levels were used: 2208, 2460 and 2712 kcal.The 2208 kcal diet contained 9% bran and 22% sunflower meal. The 2460 kcal diet was amixture of the 2712 and 2208 kcal diets.The 2798 kcal diet was diluted with sand to give a level of 2519 kcal in the Harms experiment.Balnave (2000) used rice husk to make up 8.3% of the 2535 kcal diet.In an early experiment, Leeson (2001) diluted the diets with a 50/50 mix of sand and cellulose(alphafloc).
1.2. Results
Energy consumption seems largely influenced by the type of diet and dilution methods used.For this reason, the principal characteristics of the feeds are shown in table 1. The zootechnical results are shown in table 2 of the appendix. Variations in performance observed for a100 kcal change in energy level are given in table 3. Variations have been expressed aspercentages.
Energy levels and feed presentation for laying hens 2009-10 Page | 2
Energy consumption:Between 2200 and 3000 kcal, an average drop in energy consumption of 1.2% is seen whenthe energy level decreases by 100 kcal, with a variance of 0 to 3%. These results agree withthose obtained by Morris in a 1968 overview.The experiments showing the greatest reduction in consumption seem to be those where purecellulose was used to dilute the feed, either through the addition of pure cellulose, sunflowermeal or rice husk, which led to a great reduction in intake. In fact, the addition of cellulosecontributes to a reduction in feed density and therefore to a considerable increase in thevolume which has to be ingested.The greatest reductions in energy intake were obtained by Balnave (2000), with a reduction of2.96% for 100 kcal, due in all likelihood to his use of 8.3% rice husk in his 2535 kcal diet. In theexperiment carried out by ISA, (Joly, 1997) the cellulose content of the feeds was 4%, 5.9%and 7.8%. The 2200 kcal diet contained 22% sunflower cake and 8.9% bran. As for Leeson(2001), dilution was carried out with a mixture of pure cellulose and sand, with incorporationlevels of 2.5%, 5% and 7.5% pure cellulose (alphafloc). The Peguri (1991) 2702 kcal diet alsocontained 2.9% pure cellulose.These results show that feed density plays an important part in energy regulation. Inversely,dilution with sand has much less effect. This was only 0.8% in the trial carried out by Harms,where all dilution was by means of sand.Walker (1991) observed no variation in energy intake between 2560 and 2800 kcal becausenone of his diets contained added fat. The same is true of diets with 3% added fat where theenergy level ranged from 2775 to 2990 kcal.
Table n°3: Effect of feed dilution on variations in intake, rates of lay and weight of eggs,expressed as a % for an increase of 100 kcal in feed energy level.
Reduction in energy intake levels varies by 0% to 3% per 100 kcal and depends upon the rawmaterials used, the average working out at 1.2%. This largely depends upon the way in whichdilution has been carried out. The amount of the energy intake seems to depend upon thefeed density. This observation was already made by Gleaves (1965) who concluded that thequantity of the energy intake was in relation to the feed density.
Performances:
Number of eggs:
This is largely unaffected by the feed energy level and in all cases, thedifference being less than 1%.With a variation of the energy level from 2560 to 2800 kcal, Walker (1991) observed nodifference in production. In the ISA experiments (Joly, 1997) no significant differences wereseen. The observed reductions in performance were only 0.2% with the 2460 kcal diet and1.3% with the 2208 kcal diet. The lay was only reduced by 1% with the 2535 kcal diet inBalnave’s experiments (2000). The 2465 kcal diet diluted with the sand/cellulose mixture gave
AuthorsVariation as a percentage per 100 kcal Energy levelsused (kcal)Intake Rate of lay Egg weight
Walker 0 % (1991)Walker 3 % (1991)Peguri (1991) aISA –Joly (1996)Grobas (1999)Balnave (2000) aHarms (2000)Leeson (2001) aVan Der Lee (2001)+0.17-0.06+2.75+1.98-0.24+2.96+0.82+1.41+0.82
--+0.30+0.27+0.09+0.55+0.08-0.36-0.73+0.30+0.68+0.83+0.64-0.47+0.24-0.37+0.71+0.682560-2679-2727-27992775-2822-2895-29902702-2812-29122208-2460-27122680-28102535-27252519-27982465-2610-2755-29002644-2763
Average +1.18 +0.03 +0.36
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