EFFECT OF FEEDING LINSEED MEAL-CONTAINING DIETS WITH OR WITHOUT ENZYME SUPPLEMENTATION ON PRODUCTIVE AND REPRODUCTIVE PERFORMANC OF MAMOURAH HENS.

The present study was designed to evaluate the productive and reproductive
performance of Mamourah laying hens fed linseed meal-containing diets with or
without enzyme supplementation. A total number of 270 Mamourah pullets were
randomly divided into nine experimental groups fed experimental diets containing
linseed meal at levels of zero (served as a control diet), 2.5, 5.0, 7.5 and 10.0% with
or without Kemzyme supplementation {added at gfkg). All experimental diets were
formulated to be isonitrogenous and isocaloric. The obtained results can be
summarized as follows: Birds fed the 10% linseed meal-containing diets with
supplemental enzyme consumed the least amount of feed even though, linseed meal-
containing diets had no deleterious effects on the performance of Mamourah laying
hens for egg production, egg weight and feed conversion, further improvements in
these criteria were achieved by the dietary supplementation with enzyme. Feeding the
linseed-containing diets resulted in a significant increases in egg yolk percentage and
egg color score, while no significant differences were observed in percentages of egg
shell and albumen or Haugh unit compared with those of the control group. Data
showed that egg fertility and chicks weight at hatch of birds fed the linseed meal-
containing diets were significantly superior to those of the control group, while
hatchability percentages were not significantly affected. In the present study there
were a significant reduction in concentrations of egg yolk cholesterol and total lipids of
birds fed diets containing linseed meal with or without enzyme. The same response
was observed for levels of plasma cholesterol and total lipids. Panel test: using fresh
or stored eggs, demonstrated that odor intensity and egg flavor of normal eggs were
not significantly affected by feeding the different dietary treatments. In conclusion,
taking the economical aspect into account. linseed meal could be safely used with or
without enzyme supplementation up to 10.0% in Mamourah laying hen diets without
any adverse effects on their productive and reproductive performance or egg quality.