Effect of inclusion of coconut meal in diets for laying hens

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of inclusion of coconut meal (CM) in diets for laying hens. Two hundred and forty laying hens at 43 weeks of age were assigned to a randomized block design, with five treatments and eight replicates of six birds per treatment. The treatments consisted of five isoprotein (16.5% CP) and isocaloric (2,800 kcal ME/kg) diets containing 0%, 5%; 10%; 15% and 20% CM. The experiment was carried out for 112 days and the variables studied were: feed intake (g/bird/day), egg production (%), egg weight (g), egg mass (g/bird/day), feed conversion (kg feed/kg egg) and yolk color (Roche color fan). Birds feed intake decreased as CM increased in the diet. However this effect was significantly only among birds fed diets containing 0% and 20% CM. Although not significantly egg production and egg mass decreased as CM level increased in diets. Eggs yolk yellowness decreased linearly as CM increased in diets. Coconut meal can be included in levels of up to 15% in laying hens diets along with a source of pigment, without affecting hen performance.