Effect of dietary replacement of soybean meal with shrimp head meal (Penaeus monodon) on production performance of laying hens

Abstract

The study aimed to find out how the performance of laying hens was affected when different levels of shrimp head meal (SHM) were added to the poultry diet in place of soybean meal (SBM). Five groups of Hisex White laying hens, aged 19 to 40 weeks, were fed a control corn-soybean layer diet and diets where SBM was replaced with SHM at level of 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100%.  The control group received a diet without SBM replacement. Chickens fed diet at 25% SBM replacement by SHM recorded significantly highest egg production at 23-25, 29 and 31 weeks of age. Additionally, this group exhibited the lowest feed conversion ratio (FCR) at 19, 20, 23, 25, 29 and 31 weeks of age. Feed cost per egg production was highest in the control group and lowest in the 100% replacement at 27-29, and 38 weeks of age. The findings suggest that using unconventional feed resources like SHM, a rich source of crude protein, can reduce production costs and be a viable alternative to SBM in poultry diets.