Effect of different dietary levels of rapeseed meal on reproductive performance of Iranian indigenous breeder hens

Abstract

This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of feeding diets containing 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20% of rapeseed meal on the performance of Iranian indigenous breeder hens in intensive condition. One hundred and fifty indigenous hens were randomly divided into 30 groups of 5 female and 1 male each. All experimental diets containing 2500 kcal Metabolizable Energy/kg and 15% crude protein were fed from 22 to 24 weeks as the adaptation period and 25 to 41 weeks of age as recording period. Lighting regimen also was a 16 h photoperiod during production period (25-41 weeks). Feed allocation trend for all groups was 90 g feed/bird/day at 20 weeks and then given weekly increment to reach a maximum of 120 g/bird/day during peak egg production period (27 to 35 weeks of age). Rapeseed meal inclusion at dietary levels of 15 or 20% had no significant effects on egg production, egg weight, egg mass and feed conversion ratio. There was also no significant effect of feeding rapeseed meal on reproductive performance of indigenous hens. However, these parameters were almost higher in 15% rapeseed meal group. All of the aforementioned traits except fertility and hatchability were significantly affected by hen age (p<0.05). Interaction of rapeseed meal and period was not significant for all traits. The obtained results showed that rapeseed meal can be incorporated in Iranian indigenous breeder hens diet up to 15% without inducing any adverse effects on their reproductive performance. © 2011 Academic Journals Inc.