Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 8, 2026
06:38
In Ovo Feeding of Commercial Broiler Eggs: An Accurate and Reproducible Method to Affect Muscle Development and Growth
Published on: September 20, 2021
2.8K
Feeding a persistent laying hen from day 0 until 110 weeks of age: Performance impact
Lieske van Eck1, Hsuan Chen2, Ines Carvalhido2
1Cargill Animal Nutrition Innovation Center Velddriel, Veilingweg 23, NL-5334 LD, the Netherlands; Department of Animal Sciences, Animal Nutrition Group, Wageningen University, NL-6700 AH Wageningen, the Netherlands.
Poultry Science
|December 11, 2025
Summary
Optimizing lysine during rearing and energy sources during laying improves hen growth and egg production. Early nutrition significantly impacts long-term performance, enhancing body weight and laying persistency.
Area of Science:
- Poultry Science
- Animal Nutrition
- Animal Husbandry
Background:
- Poultry production relies on optimal nutrition for growth, body composition, and laying persistency.
- Rearing and laying phase nutrition significantly influences hen performance.
- Apparent Fecal Digestible Lysine (AFD Lys) and Metabolizable Energy (ME) are critical dietary components.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of dietary Apparent Fecal Digestible Lysine (AFD Lys) levels during rearing and Metabolizable Energy (ME) strategies during laying on hen growth and laying persistency.
- To evaluate the combined effects of early-life nutrition and laying phase energy management.
- To determine the long-term consequences of nutritional interventions on egg production.
Main Methods:
- A 2x3 factorial experiment using 240 Dekalb White pullets.
- Treatments included low or high AFD Lys during rearing and three ME strategies (REHO, CE, RELO) during laying.
- Data collection involved body weight, feed intake, egg weight, and egg collection, analyzed using mixed models and non-linear regression for egg production curves.
Main Results:
- Low AFD Lys during rearing reduced feed intake, body weight, and negatively impacted laying persistency (longer peak, steeper decline).
- During laying, constant energy high oil (CE) diets shortened the peak production phase, while reducing energy over time low oil (RELO) diets led to lighter egg weights and a steeper decline.
- No significant interaction effects were observed between rearing and laying nutrition strategies.
Conclusions:
- Higher AFD Lysine during rearing positively influences long-term body weight and laying persistency.
- Optimizing energy sources during the laying phase, particularly CE diets, can enhance laying persistency and egg weight.
- Early-life nutrition has a lasting impact on poultry performance, highlighting the importance of strategic dietary management throughout the hen's life cycle.
