EFFECT OF INCLUSION OF PUMPKIN (Cucurbitaceae)SEEDS ON EGG LAYING PERFORMANCE, HATCHABILITY AND ITS ECONOMIC BENEFIT OFWHITE LEGHORN CHICKEN HENS

Abstract

his study was conducted to investigate the effects of different levels of pumpkin seed(Cucurbitaceae) in the dieton egg production, fertility, hatchability, egg quality, embryonic mortality and economic benefit of white leghorn layers at Haramaya University Poultry Farm. A total of 128 White Leghorn layer at an age of 26 weeks were randomly assigned in to 4 treatments diets in completely randomized design with 4 replications, using deep litter housing system.The four treatment rations were formulated to contain standard layers ration plus 0(T1), 1(T2), 2(T3) and 3(T4) Kg of pumpkin seedpowder (PSP)/100Kg of the ration respectively.Thechickens were offered a weighted amount of feed and refusal were collected and weighted the next morning. Weight of experimental birds was taken at the beginning and at the end of the experiment. The samples of feed ingredients and layer diet were analyzed for chemical composition before start of experiment. Data collected were subjected to analysis of variance for all parameters considered. Partial budget analysis was undertaken to evaluate the economic benefits of the different levels of pumpkin seeds. The results obtained indicated that mean dailyfeed intake of the groups fed on the diet containing 1and 2kgof PSP (T2and T3) weresignificantly (P<0.05) higher thanthe others.There were no significance difference (P > 0.05) between all the treatments groups in mean daily body weight gain, egg weight, shell weight, shell thickness, albumen height, albumen weight, yolk diameter, yolk index, Haugh unit andembryonic mortality. The groups fedon T3 had higher hen-day egg production of (51.9%) compared to that of the groups fed control diet (47.1%). The groups fed on T3(26.0g) and T2 (25.4) achieved significantly higher(P < 0.01) mean egg mass than that of the groups fed on T4 and T1. The feed conversion ratioof the groups fed on 2kg (T3) of PSP wassignificantly (P < 0.05)lower (cheaper) than the others. Eggcollected fromthe groups fed on the diets containing 1-2 kg of PSP (T2 and T3) hadsignificantly (P <0.05) higher yolk heightthanthat of the groups fed on controltreatment diet.On the contrary, the mean yolk weight of the groups fed on control treatmentwas significantlyhigher (P<0.05)than that of the groups fed onT4. The economic analysis showed that the total and net return of the groups fedon the dietcontaining 1-3kg (T2-T4) of PSP was higher thanthat of the groups fed on thecontrol diet.In summary, theresults of the current studyindicated that PSP could economically be added to layers ration up to2 kg per 100 kgoflayer ration without adversely affecting product quality.