Effect of replacing flshmeal with vegetable protein supplements on performance of layers at third phase of production during summer months

The rate of egg production continuesto decline during third phase of production and also in summer. An experiment was. therefore, conducted in summer months (April-July) on White Leghorn layers (n = 66) during third phase of laying to ascertain their response on low fish meal or all vegetable protein based diet. The birds were divided into 12 groups of 5/6 birds each. Three dietary treatments were formulated replacing 50%(T₂) and 100%(T₃) fishmeal(FM) of the control diet(T₁ containing 6% FM) with a mixture of soybean meal and mustard cake (2:1 ratio). Each dietary treatment was of fered to 22 birds in four replicated groups. Data were recorded for 95 days after 3 days of adjustment period. Feed intake, feed intake for producing one dozen of eggs or one kg of egg mass and egg weight remained statistically similar (P<0.05), but percent hen day production was lower (P<0.05) in T₂ (48.42%) and T₃ (45.81%) as compared to control group (51.03%). The results indicated that replacement of fishmeal by a mixture of soybeanmeal and mustard cake could not support optimum egg production in third phase of laying.