THE INCLUSION OF 10-PERCENT OF AMARANTHUS OR CH-QUINOA FORAGE MEALS IN DIETS FOR LAYERS

Leghorn hens (240) of 34 weeks of age were used during 315 day and dis tributed according to a completely randomized design with three treatm ents at a rate of 20 cages each for studying the following treatments: control (wheat + soybean); 10% amaranthus forage meal and 10% of Ch. quinoa forage meal. The amaranthus treatment increased mortality losse s and selection (22.2; 44.0 and 22.5%, respectively) and also provoked a worsening in the production of eggs/housed hen (151, 118 and 145, r espectively) and of total mass conversion (3.56; 4.23 and 3.52, respec tively) and of the mass conversion of traditional raw materials (3.56; 3.81 and 3.17, respectively). There were no significant differences b etween the control and the Ch. quinoa forage meal except for mass conv ersion of raw materials which was lower for the latter by 0.39 units. There was a beneficial effect on yolk pigmentation with the forage mea ls studied without any effect on final liveweight of the hens between treatments. The use of 10% of Ch. quinoa is recommended for layer diet s and to carry out future studies concluding on the use of amaranthus forage meal on layer feeding.