Effect of banana peels as a substitute for white maize grain on laying performances and egg quality of Bovans Brown chickens

Abstract

The study was conducted to evaluate the effect of replacing white maize grain (WMG) by dried banana peels (DBP) on egg production and egg quality parameters at Poultry Unit, University of Gondar, Ethiopia. A total of 96 Bovans Brown layers (28 weeks old age and initial average body weight of 1.60 ± 0.15 kg) were allocated into four treatments with two replications and each replication had 12 layers. The white maize grain (WMG) portion of the concentrate mixture was substituted by 0, 6, 12 and 18% of DBP for T₁, T₂, T₃ and T₄ treatments, respectively. Feed intake, egg production, egg weight and egg mass were recorded daily. The feed intake was significantly higher for T₄ (108.2 g) compared to T₁, T₂ and T₃ (101.2, 104.1 and 103 g, respectively) diets. A significant difference (P < 0.05) was found between treatment groups in HDEP where T₁ was higher (48.4%) than T₂ (45.4%), T₃ (44.3%) and T₄ (44.1%). Egg weight and egg mass were higher (P < 0.05) in control diet, while, it was constant as inclusion rate of DBP increased. Most of egg quality parameters showed nonsignificant difference among treatments. However, shell weight, shell thickness and yolk colour were higher in DBP containing diets. Yolk weight was significantly lower in T₁ and T₂ than other treatments. Therefore, DBP could be substituted up to 18% as alternative feedstuffs for laying hens DBP without detrimental effect on performance and egg quality traits.