Optimizing energy, protein and amino acid needs in diet of Kadaknath layers

An experiment was conducted involving Kadaknath layers (n=108) during 26–40 weeks of age to evaluate optimum energy, protein and amino acid profile for egg production performance. Six dietary treatments were formulated with two levels of energy(2600 kcal and 2400 kcal ME/kg) and three levels of protein (16.0, 14.0 and 12.0% maintaining amino acid profile on protein basis) at each energy level following 2 x 3 factorial design. Each of such diet was offered to 18 hens, kept in individual laying cages under similar management condition, from 2640 wk of age. Results indicated that feed intake, hen-day egg production, egg-weight and feed conversion efficiency did not differ statistically due to either dietary protein levels or protein and energy interaction. However, significantly higher (P<0.05) egg production was recorded at 2600 kcal ME/kg diet than its counterpart 2400 kcal ME/kg diet. A non-significant decrease in egg production with decreased level of protein was observed. Moreover, though egg production did not differ due to interaction of energy and protein but higher (66.06%) egg production was recorded with better FCR (3.82) in diet with 2600 kcal ME/kg and 16% protein. It could be concluded that the optimum dietary energy, protein and amino acids levels were 2600 kcal ME/kg, 16.0% CP, 0.86% lysine, 0.31% methionine and 0.63% threonine for optimum production performance of Kadaknath layers.