PERFORMANCE AND EGG QUALITY OF BABCOCK LAYER CHICKEN FED COCONUT OIL AND SOYA LECITHIN OIL IN THE RATION

Abstract

A study was conducted to determine the performance and the quality of eggs laid by layers fed coconut oil and soya lecithin oil supplemented diets for 16 weeks. Ninety 40-week old individually-caged layers were randomly assigned to three dietary treatments following a completely randomized design replicated 30 times. The dietary treatments were: basal diet with 2% coconut oil (T1), basal diet with 1% coconut oil and 1% soya lecithin oil (T2) and basal diet with 2% soya lecithin oil on equivalent weight basis (T3). Results showed that T2 layers were significantly (P<0.05) better feed converter to eggs, had significantly lowest feed consumption and highest weight loss among the three treatments. Likewise, layers fed diets containing 1% coconut oil plus 1% soya lecithin oil (T2) had the highest IOFC and, therefore, is the most economical. No significant differences were found on other production and egg quality parameters measured. It is more profitable using soya lecithin oil in combination with coconut oil in the production of table eggs. The study suggests that soya lecithin oil can be a good replacement for coconut oil, especially when the latter’s price increases in the local market.