The Effect of Feeding Hens a Peanut Skin-Containing Diet on Hen Performance, and Shell Egg Quality and Lipid Chemistry

Abstract

Peanut skins are a considerable waste product with little current economic value or use. We aimed to determine the dietary effects of peanut skins on layer production performance and egg quality and chemistry of the eggs produced. Two hundred commercial hens were randomly assigned to four treatments (five replicates) and fed ad libitum for 8 weeks: conventional control diet, diet containing 24% high-oleic peanut (HOPN), diet containing 3% peanut skin (PN Skin), and a diet with 2.5% oleic acid (OA). Hens fed the HOPN diet had significantly reduced body weights relative to the control and PN Skin treatments, producing fewer total eggs over the 8-week experimental period. Eggs weights were similar between the control and PN Skin treatments at weeks 2 and 4, while eggs from the PN Skin treatment group were heavier than other treatments at weeks 6 and 8 of the experiment. Eggs produced from the HOPN treatment had reduced saturated fatty acid (FA) content in comparison to the other treatment groups, while similar between PN Skin and control eggs at week 8 of the experiment. This study suggests that PN skins may be a suitable alternative layer feed ingredient.

The Effects of Feeding a Whole-in-Shell Peanut-Containing Diet on Layer Performance and the Quality and Chemistry of Eggs Produced

“…Secondly, we aim to determine the effects of feeding a whole-in-shell peanut diet or unblanched peanut diet on the quality, lipid and fatty acid content of the eggs produced. In our previous layer feeding trials, we demonstrated that layer body weight, and feed intake of hens fed a 24% unblanched peanut diet was similar to that of hens fed a non-conventional control diet containing soy protein isolate, defatted soybean meal, and yellow corn [3]. However, hens fed a 24% unblanched peanut diet produced a significantly fewer total number of eggs compared to hens fed a control diet containing soy protein isolate [3].…”

“…In our previous layer feeding trials, we demonstrated that layer body weight, and feed intake of hens fed a 24% unblanched peanut diet was similar to that of hens fed a non-conventional control diet containing soy protein isolate, defatted soybean meal, and yellow corn [3]. However, hens fed a 24% unblanched peanut diet produced a significantly fewer total number of eggs compared to hens fed a control diet containing soy protein isolate [3]. Furthermore, eggs produced from hens fed a 24% unblanched peanut diet were significantly smaller in weight compared to eggs produced from hens fed a control diet containing soy protein isolate [3].…”

“…Peanuts like soybeans are legumes and oilseeds rich in protein, while also providing dietary lipids as energy. Interestingly, peanut skins, the coating of the peanut, provide 15% antioxidant rich polyphenolic compounds, 19% fat, and 12% fiber [3]. Hence, whole unblanched (skin intact) peanuts may serve as a nutrient-rich value-added alternative feed ingredient for animal food production while reducing the production of agricultural waste by-products from the peanut industry.…”

“…Hence, whole unblanched (skin intact) peanuts may serve as a nutrient-rich value-added alternative feed ingredient for animal food production while reducing the production of agricultural waste by-products from the peanut industry. Thus, numerous studies have been conducted to explore the effective utilization of peanuts and/or peanut by-products within the animal feed as value-added feed components [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] and to enhance agricultural sustainability.…”

“…As a feed ingredient, peanuts and peanut by-products are good sources of protein, fiber, and fat [13,14]. While a few studies have examined the use of peanut skins [3,5] and fermented peanut shells [15,16] as alternative feed ingredients for poultry, no studies to date have examined the use of whole-in-shell peanuts and few studies have examined the use of unblanched peanuts, as a feed ingredient for poultry. Aka et al, (2020) demonstrated that fermented peanut shells alone could be substituted into feed in place of rice bran at up to 6% inclusion without affecting bird performance, while another study concluded that fermented peanut shell meal could be included up to 5% of the diet to enhance broiler performance [15,16].…”