Effect of High Moisture Ear Corn and High Moisture Shelled Corn Feeds on Laying Hen Performance

The aim of the study was to test the effect of high moisture ear corn (HMEC) and high moisture shelled corn (HMSC) feeds on laying hen performance. A total of 108 Rhode Island Red laying hens were divided by body weight and performance into 12 blocks (9 in each). Each block was assigned to one of three dietary treatments. The hens were fed one of three experimental diets containing 48.0% commercial laying hen diet (CON), 55.7% HMEC (EC) or 48.5% HMSC (SC) on a dry matter (DM) basis. All diets were isocaloric (2.80 mega calorie (Mcal) of (metabolizable energy (ME)/kg of DM) and isonitrogenous (15.5% CP of DM). DM Feed intake (139 to 148 g DM/d per hen), egg production rate (79 to 85%), egg mass (47.6 to 51.2 g/d per hen) and feed utilization (2.7 to 3.1 g of feed DM/g of egg) were not affected by diet. Body weight for the SC diet was significantly less than that for the CON diet (P<0.05). This was possibly due to the low feed intake during weeks 1 and 2 because of the short adaptation period to the experimental diet. The body weight loss of hens fed the SC diet may not have occurred when there had been a sufficient adaptation period. Eggshell strength (3.27 to 3.52 kg/cm(2)) and Haugh unit (80.0 to 83.6) were not affected by diet. In conclusion, HMEC and HMSC diets do not significantly affect laying hen performance and can be used as a main ingredient of the laying hen diet.