Effect of supplementation of Moringa oleifera leaf meal (MOLM) on the performance of Vanaraja laying hens

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to study the effect of dietary supplementation of Moringa oleifera leaf meal (MOLM) on the performance of Vanaraja laying hens. Five experimental diets were formulated by supplementing without (T₀), and with MOLM @ 0.5 kg (T_0.5), 1.0 kg (T_1.0), 1.5 kg (T_1.5) and 2.0 kg (T_2.0) per 100 kg basal diet. Sixty laying hens (22 weeks) were divided into 5groups (each group had 4 replicates with 3 laying hens per replicate)and were randomly fed the above 5 experimental diets. All the birds were reared on wire mesh floored cages during the experimental period of 8 weeks. The MOLM contained 27.27% CP, 3.76% EE, 18.53% CF, 11.50% TA and 0.37% AIA. There was improvement (P<0.05) in egg production and feed conversion ratio (FCR) in T_0.5 than T₀. The average egg weight in T_2.0 was lower compared to T₀ and T_0.5. The egg quality characteristics viz. albumen (%), yolk (%), shell (%), shape index and shell thickness (mm) were similar for all the treatments.The feed cost to produce dozen egg was highest for T₀ (rupees 27.98) and lowest for T_0.5 (rupees 22.33). It can be concluded that supplementation of Moringa oleifera leaf meal @ 0.50 kg/100kg diet in Vanaraja laying hens was beneficial in terms of improved egg production, better FCR and reduced cost of feed to produce dozen eggs.