2025/09/16 by Mebrahtom Niguse, Gebremedhn Beyene, Teshome Tesfamariam +1
#Chemical composition #Ethiopia #Tigray #commercial ration #performance #quality control
paper · doi:10.71624/094xfc89
The aim of the study was to compare the quality of available commercial poultry layer feeds in Tigray through chemical analysis and performance evaluation using layer hens. Four suppliers of commercial layer feed available in the market in Tigray region were used for the chemical analysis and experiment. Two of the experimental feeds are formulated in Tigray while the other two feeds are produced in Addis Ababa and distributed in Tigray region by distributors. The DM content varied between 85–95.2 percent with up to 9 percent difference between formulation batches in one of the feeds. The CP content of the feeds ranged from 9.8 to 19.99 percent and none of the feeds were iso-nitrogenous. The metabolizable energy content of commercial layer feeds available in Tigray ranged between 2787.01 Kcal ME/kg DM and 3222.84 Kcal ME/kg DM and only one of the commercial layer feeds included in this study was iso-caloric. The metabolizable energy was inconsistent between formulation batches except in treatment 3. The results of the feeding trial experiment showed that the egg production and feed conversion efficiency was significantly better in treatment 2 and 1 than treatment 4 and 3. Generally, treatment 2 and 1 were better than the other treatments while treatment 3 was the worst of all the feeds included in this study. The chemical analysis showed that there is a variation in nutrient composition among feeds formulated by different sources. The chemical composition also varied between formulation batches within the same source.