African Journal of
Agricultural Research

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Agric. Res.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1991-637X
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJAR
  • Start Year: 2006
  • Published Articles: 6900

Article in Press

Nutritional Evaluation and Feeding Value of Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) Varieties in the Performance of Layer Chicken

Bizunesh Fikre, Etalem Tesfaye, Birhan Tamir, Taye Tadesse

  •  Received: 08 July 2022
  •  Accepted: 23 September 2022
The study was conducted to evaluate feeding value of sorghum varieties in laying hen performances. The 210 Bovan Brown hens, aging 22-33 weeks, were used and equally and randomly assigned to seven dietary treatments with three replications. Treatment rations were control i.e., T1 (0% inclusion of sorghum variety melkam [SVM]), T2 (20% SVM), T3 (30% SVM), T4 (40% SVM), T5 (20% inclusion of sorghum variety degalityellow, [SVD]), T6 (30% SVD) and T7 (40% SVD). Hens were weighed at start and end of the experiment and body weight (BW) change was calculated. Data on feed intake, hen-day egg production (HDEP), hen-housed egg production (HHEP), egg weight and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were recorded. Egg quality was determined at middle and end of the experiment by taking four eggs per replicate for each round. Highest and lowest BW changes (P<0.05) were recorded in T6 (209.83 g) and T2 (76.33 g), respectively. Higher (P<0.05) BW change was observed in hens fed SVD (160.52 g) than hens fed SVM. There was a difference (P<0.05) in FCR regarding sorghum varieties and it was good for hens fed 40% SVD. The HDEP was not different (P>0.05) among treatments, except in T3 where it was lower than the rest treatments. The HHEP was higher (P<0.05) in T7 than in T3 and T4, and in terms of variety, SVD was better than SVM and comparable to the control diet. Both albumin weight and Haugh unit were significantly (P<0.05) different from hens fed different treatment diets both in level and variety of sorghum and it was better for that fed SVM at all levels and SVD at 20%. Better net income (NI) was earned from hens fed the control diet, SVD contributed for earning better NI.

Keywords: Body weight change; Egg production; Egg quality; Sorghum varieties