EFFECT OF INCREASING LEVELS OF EGGSHELL POWDER ON THE PRODUCTION PERFORMANCE, CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS, AND BONE PROPERTIES OF BROILER CHICKEN

Abstract

The study was conducted to determine the effect of increasing levels of eggshell on the production performance, carcass characteristics, and bone properties of broiler chickens. Two hundred fifty-six (256) chicks were randomly distributed into four (4) treatments following a completely randomized design. Each treatment was replicated eight (8) times with eight (8) birds per replicate. The dietary treatments include control (0% eggshell) and increasing levels of eggshell powder as a replacement to limestone at 50%, 75%, and 100%, respectively. Commercial booster feeds were fed to the birds from day 0-10 while the experimental diets were given from day 11-35. At the starter stage (day 11-24), birds fed eggshell-containing diets had higher ADG (P=0.04) compared to the control group. An increasing trend was observed on BW24 (P=0.05), ADG (P=0.01), and ADFI (P=0.04) as the level of eggshells was increased from 0 to 100%. However, birds fed 75% eggshell had lower ADG (P=0.02) and poorer Feed:Gain (P=0.02) than the control group during the finisher stage (day 25-35). For the overall performance (day 11-35), no differences were observed among treatments on body weights, ADG, ADFI, Feed:Gain, and mortality. Birds fed diets containing eggshells had a lower dressing percentage (P=0.03) compared with the control group. For the bone properties, birds fed 100% eggshell had lower bone breaking strength (P=0.03) compared with the birds fed 0% and 50% eggshell. Although birds fed diets with eggshells had higher tibia ash content (P=0.04), a quadratic trend (P=0.04) on bone calcium has been observed as the level of eggshell in the diet increases. Replacing limestone with eggshell powder resulted in similar overall production performance of broilers but lower dressing percentage and bone breaking strength. Further studies must be conducted to establish the optimum level of eggshell powder in broiler diets.