| dc.description | H.E. Rodríguez-Ríos, J.A. Campos-Parra, P.A. Williams-Salinas, M.H. Blanck-Heimann, R.G. Astudillo-Neira, and J.D. Grande-Cano. 2015. The inclusion of distiller’s dried corn grains with solubles in the feed of laying hens during the production stage. Cien. Inv. Agr. 42(3): 331-339. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of distiller’s dried corn grains with solubles (DDGS) in the diet of laying hens on their productive parameters (live weight, laying percentage, and feed intake) and egg quality (egg weight, mass, yolk color and shell thickness). This study was conducted in the Andes Mountains in Parral, Chile. It covered a span of 13 weeks of productive egg laying, ranging from the 31st to the 44th week of life of the hens. The experimental design was a random complete block using 225 Hy-Line Brown breed hens, distributed in 5 treatments, where each treatment consisted of three repetitions in 15 hens. The treatments included replacing soybean concentrate with DDGS at levels that corresponded to inclusion in the diet of 5, 10, 15 and 20%. The laying percentage, feed intake and feed conversion did not decrease with increasing levels of DDGS in the diet, but there was a slight decrease in egg weight and a lower egg mass. Yolk color increased with increasing levels of DDGS. The use of DDGS is possible as a replacement for soybean bran in levels up to 20% in the diet of laying hens without affecting their production, as demonstrated by the lack of significant differences among treatments in measured egg laying parameters | |
