EFFECT OF FEEDING RAW AND TREATED COMMON VETCH SEED (VICIA-SATIVA) ONTHE PERFORMANCE AND EGG QUALITY PARAMETERS OF LAYING HENS

Two experiments were conducted to study the effect of feeding raw or t reated common vetch seeds (V) on BW, feed intake (FI), egg production (EP), feed conversion (FC), egg weight (EW), shell thickness (ST), yol k color score (YC), and Haugh unit score (HU) of Single Comb White Leg horn hens for 56 d. In Experiment 1, diets contained 0, 7.5, 15, and 2 2.5% raw V. Compared with the control, the 22.5% V diet decreased (P < .05) BW, FI, and EP. In Experiment 2, intact or ground (G) V were eit her soaked (S) in water (1:5) for 24 h or autoclaved (A) at 103.5 x 10 (3) Pa for 8 h, and then dried (D) at 55 C for 24 h. Eight diets were used, a corn soybean (control) and seven others, each containing 25% V , previously subjected to the forementioned treatments as follows: unt reated V (UV), SDV, GSDV, ADV, GADV, SADV, and GSADV. Compared with th e control, the UV diet decreased (P < .05) Fl (75 vs 98 g) and EP (47. 3 vs 88.7%), increased FC (1.99 vs 1.4 kg feed per dozen eggs), and in duced BW loss (-63 vs 49 g). Soaking intact V improved (P < .05) FI (8 5 g) and EP (69%). Remaining treatments resulted in further improvemen t. Hens fed all V diets produced eggs with HU score 13 points better t han that of the control (P < .05). In both experiments, EW, YC, and ST were not different among treatments. Results indicated that autoclave d V at 25% level was not detrimental to layers' performance.