DOI QR Code
A total of 252, 50 week-old Isa-brown laying hens were randomly allotted to 7 groups of 3 replicates. Mustard meal (MM) which is a by-product from mustard processing plant, was dried under the sun or in a gas heated pan. It contained on DM basis 30-32% CP, 19-22% EE and 12-13% CF. The meal from either drying method was incorporated into the diets at 0, 10, 20 and 30% which was equivalent to the substitution levels for soybean meal at 0, 31, 63 and 94%, respectively. All birds were individually kept in battery cages where feed and water were freely accessed throughout 84 days experimental period. It was found that egg production, feed intake, body weight gain and egg weight significantly decreased with the increased MM level. The inclusion of 20% MM did not show a significant difference in egg production and quality from the control, but produced 6-8% lower egg production. Feed intake was linearly decreased with the MM levels, except the 10% sun dried MM group. Fat deposition of the birds fed MM diets significantly decreased, while kidney weight increased when compared with the control group. However, the weight of thyroid glands and spleen trended to be heavier in the MM groups, but this was not significantly different among dietary treatments. It was concluded, MM from both drying methods could be incorporated in laying hen diets at the level of 10% without any adverse effect.