USING LOCAL FEED MATERIALS FOR FEEDING EGG PRODUCING BIRDS IN THE KINGDOM OF TONGA

A trial involving 200 day-old 288 Shaver chicks in a randomized experimental design tested the effects of using diets based on local feed materials (LF). Commercial imported counterpart feeds (CF) served as control diets. Birds were raised from 0-6 w on Chick Starter feed, from 7-17 w on Pullet Developer feed and from 18 to 72 w on Layer feed. The results obtained indicated that there were no significant differences in the performance of birds fed LF and CF diets during the Chick Starter and Pullet Developer phases. During the Laying phase, there were also no differences in laying percentage, (66 vs 65) and in egg size (62 vs 63 g) between LF and CF diets. Feed cost was lower on LF diet had a better egg yolk colour score, (4 vs 1) than those fed on CF diet. Feed cost was lower on LF than CF diets and the feed cost for producing eggs was approximately 50 percent lower on LF compared to CF (P$ 0.06 vs P$ 0.12). It was concluded that the use of locally available feed resources produces comparable performance to that obtained using commercial imported feeds. Secondly, using local materials markedly reduces feed cost and cost of producing eggs.