A study on the effects of L. leucocephala leaf meal supplement ways into the diets of Luong Phuong parent chickens on their egg productivity and qualily

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the influences of different supplement ways of the Leucaena leucocephala leaf meal to the diets of Luong Phuong parent chickens on their egg productivity and quality. Total of 270 Luong Phuong laying hens were divided into 3 groups with 90 hens per each group (30x3 replications). The experiment was carried out in 120 days, starting at 31 weeks of age (9 weeks of laying). The control group was fed a basal diet (BD) without L. Leucocephala leaf meal (LLM) and with a metabolic energy (ME) level and the rate of crude protein (CP) based on nutrition standards (2,750 kcal ME/kg and 17% CP). The experimental group 1 (Exp 1) was fed a diet containing 6% L. leucocephala leaf meal and the same ME and CP as the control group (2,750 kcal ME/kg and 17% CP). The experimental group 2 (Exp 2) was given a diet containing 6% L. leucocephala leaf meal and 94% basal diet but without the balanced ME and CP as the control group. The results showed that the both ways of supplementing LLM into the diets had good effects on the laying hens; the main indexes (egg productivity/hen, the newly hatched chick class 1/hatching egg, feed consumption/ chick class 1) were significantly different in comparison with those of the control group. The egg productivity of Exp 1 was higher than that of Exp 2 with a significant difference. However, the most important index, that is newly hatched chick class 1/hatching egg, had no significant difference between the two groups. Nevertheless, in household farming conditions, it is possible to apply the way supplementing the diet with L. leucocephala leaf meal of Exp 2 because it is easy to implement.