Feeding Whole Wheat With or Without a Dietary Enzyme or Grit to Laying Hens

A 3*2*2 factorial experiment was conducted to study the effect of feeding whole wheat
(0, 10, and 20%), a microbial enzyme source (Arabino-xylanase based enzyme for wheat
at 0% and 0.1%) and 0% or 1% insoluble grit (number 3 layer size) on the performance
of White Leghorn hens at 19 to 54 weeks of age. Each dietary treatment was replicated
four times with ten hens, housed two to a cage, each. No main treatment effects or interactions
were observed for egg production, feed efficiency, egg weight, body weight gain, or
mortality. Feeding 20% whole wheat produced the lowest incidence of cracked, broken,
or soft shelled eggs. Adding the enzyme significantly (P<0.05) reduced daily feed intake
from 124.6 to 122.2 g. Enzyme addition also resulted in minor, but significant (P<0.05),
increases in egg specific gravity from 1.0800 to 1.0806. Inclusion of 20% whole wheat does
not adversely affect the productivity of White Leghorn hens and therefore can be used to
reduce the cost of feed processing.