Study on the possibility of Gracilariopsis persica utilization in layer diets

This study was conducted to determine the nutritional value of seaweed Gracilariopsis persica and to evaluate its utilization in layer nutrition. Metabolizable Energy and chemical composition of seaweed were measured. 100 Hy-line W-36 hens were allocated to five dietary groups with five treatment group (experimental diets containing zero, five, 10, 15 and 20 percent seaweed) and it lasted for 12 weeks. Egg production, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, egg weight and egg mass were measured weekly. The results showed that the CP, CF, EE, Ca and P of the seaweed were 23.05, 7.2, 0.1, 0.9 and 0.34 percent, respectively. Apparent Metabolizable Energy and Apparent Metabolizable energy corrected for nitrogen were 2185.04 and 2195.72 Kcal/Kg, respectively. The treatments contain more than five percent seaweed, decreased egg production and increased feed conversion ratio (P< 0.05). There was significant decrease in egg mass for more than 10 percent seaweed treatments (P< 0.05). These results showed that usage of five percent seaweed Gracilariopsis persica in the layer hen's diet doesnt have negative effect on production performances.