Performance of laying turkeys grouped according to daily food intake

The individual food intake of 120 Large White turkey hens in cages was measured for 3 weeks for 36 to 39 weeks of age. Based on that rate of intake, hens were divided into four treatment groups: two high intake (HI) and two low intake (LI). A control diet was fed to one HI group and one LI group. In addition, diets with different nutrient density were formulated for one HI group and one LI group. The experimental period was for 10 weeks beginning when the hens were 39 weeks of age. There were no significant differences among the groups for rate of egg production, total number of eggs, egg weight, or egg specific gravity, although there were significant differences for the daily intakes of protein, sulfur amino acids, lysine, phosphorus, calcium, and metabolizable energy. These data indicate that, at 39 weeks of age, there was no benefit from grouping birds based on previous food intake and feeding them diets to increase or decrease daily intake of certain nutrients.