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. 2020 Apr 25;99(8):3914–3920. doi: 10.1016/j.psj.2020.03.041

Table 5.

Effect of diet composition on performance and N balance in laying hens.1

Items Reference diet Test diets
 SEM P-value
Corn 1 Corn 2
Laying performance
 BW, kg/bird2 1.94 1.88 1.90 0.02 0.40
 Feed intake, g/bird/D DM 100a 81.4b 84.4b 2.87 0.01
 Hen day production, % 88.9 85.2 87.1 3.62 0.93
 Average egg weight, g 63.8a 56.2b 57.3b 0.93 <0.001
 Egg mass, g/bird/D3 57.1 48.0 49.8 2.48 0.30
 FCR4 1.82 1.80 1.70 0.08 0.85
Nitrogen balance, g/bird/D
 Intake 2.95a 1.82b 2.06b 0.13 <0.001
 Excreta 1.60a 1.10b 1.07b 0.07 <0.001
Retained
 Total5 1.34a 0.71c 0.99b 0.07 <0.001
 Egg6 1.11 0.93 0.97 0.05 0.31
 Body7 0.23a −0.22b 0.02a,b 0.07 0.02

a–cMeans within a row lacking a common superscript differ (P ＜ 0.05).

Abbreviation: FCR, feed conversion ratio.

1

Each value represents the mean of 6 replicates (runs) for each treatment (diet) during 3-D respiratory measurements (3 layers per calorimetry chambers).

2

BW, average body weight.

3

Egg mass = hen day production × average egg weight (g/bird/D).

4

FCR (g/g) calculated as feed intake (g) divided by egg mass (g).

5

Total N retained (g/bird/D) calculated as N intake–N in excreta.

6

Retained N in egg (g/bird/D).

7

Retained N in body (g/bird/D) calculated as total N retained - retained N in egg.