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

Abstract

The abundance of peanut and poultry production within the state of North Carolina and the US Southeast, led us to conduct a layer feeding trial to determine the utilization of whole-in-shell high-oleic peanuts (WPN) and/or unblanched high-oleic peanuts (HOPN) as an alternative feed ingredient for poultry. To meet this objective, we randomly assigned 576 shaver hens to 4 dietary treatments (4 rep/trt). The dietary treatments consisted of a conventional control diet (C1), a diet containing 4% WPN, an 8% HOPN diet, and a control diet containing soy protein isolate (C2). Feed and water were provided for 6 weeks ad libitum. Pen body weights (BW) were recorded at week 0 and week 6 (wk6), and feed weights were recorded bi-weekly. Shell eggs were collected daily and enumerated. Bi-weekly 120 eggs/treatment were collected for quality assessment and egg weight (EW), while 16 eggs/treatment were collected for chemical analysis. There were no significant differences in BW or EW at week 6. Hens fed the C2 produced more total dozen eggs relative to C1 hens over the feeding trial (p < 0.05). Hens fed the C1 diet consumed less total feed relative to the other treatments with the best feed conversion ratio (p < 0.05). Most eggs produced from each treatment were USDA grade A, large eggs. There were no differences in egg quality, with the exception of yolk color, with significantly higher yolk color scores in eggs produced from the C1 and C2 treatments relative to the other treatments (p < 0.05). Eggs produced from the HOPN treatment had significantly reduced stearic and linoleic fatty acid levels relative to the other treatments (p < 0.05). Eggs produced from hens fed the WPN diet had significantly greater β-carotene content relative to eggs from the other treatment groups (p < 0.05). In summary, this study suggests that WPN and/or HOPN may be a suitable alternative layer feed ingredient and a dietary means to enrich the eggs produced while not adversely affecting hen performance.

Effect of Feeding Whole-In-Shell Peanuts and High-Oleic Peanuts to Laying Hens on Ileal Nutrient Digestibility

“…However, a previous study reported no differences in apparent fat digestibility between a treatment with a 20% inclusion of high oleic peanuts and conventional control layer diet 7 or a diet containing 10% of high oleic peanuts and conventional control broiler diets 6 . While layer production and performance parameters were not adversely affected by the diet formulated to include whole in shell peanuts 12 , the AMEn, fat and protein digestibility were compromised as compared to the other treatment groups. Studies have shown that with increased fat digestibility from feed can result in better body weights in broilers 27 , however another study showed that age affected how easily digested the fat was, therefore the age also be a contributor in reduced fat digestibility 28 .…”

“…While previous studies have demonstrated the effective utilization of diets including whole in shell and high oleic peanuts as an alternative feed ingredient in layers 12 , no studies to date have examined the apparent digestibility of the diets for layers. In this study, the objective was to determine the apparent ileal protein digestibility, the apparent metabolizable energy (AMEn) and the apparent fat digestibility of diets containing a 4% inclusion of whole-in-shell peanuts or an inclusion of 8% of high-oleic peanuts when fed to laying hens.…”