Bharat L Sadarao, Partha P Das, Venket M Shelke, and R Chanthirasekaran
Kemin Industries South Asia Pvt. Ltd., India
ABSTRACT
Layer farmers aim to produce eggs that meet breed standards. However, productivity often declines due to nutrient deficiencies resulting from limited feed availability, rising feed costs, and variation in raw materials. To overcome these challenges, premixes are added to poultry diets to supply essential nutrients, support bird health, and improve productivity. These premixes are formulated cost-effectively to enhance growth, egg production, immunity, livability, and overall product quality.
The present study evaluated the effect of two different premixes on the productivity of laying hens. A total of 30,900 laying hens (29 weeks old) from a single shed were selected and observed over five experimental periods, each lasting five weeks, including one control and four treatment periods.
The experimental design was as follows:
- T1 (Control): Diet supplemented with premix supplied by Competitor Company.
- T2, T3, T4, and T5 (Treatment): Diet supplemented with premix supplied by Kemin Company (KEPREX™ LR PRO)
Both premixes were added at a rate of 5kg per metric ton of feed, with their nutritional matrix considered during ration formulation.
At the end of the experiment, egg production, feed consumption per egg, mortality, and cost efficiency were evaluated. The results showed that laying hens fed with premix based on KEPREX™ LR PRO exhibited higher egg production and better feed efficiency compared to the control group. Additional egg production of 1,22,330; 1,62,830; 1,59,040; and 1,37,360 eggs were recorded during the T2, T3, T4, and T5 periods, respectively, compared to the T1 control period.
Feed consumption per egg during the T1 control period was 135.23g, which was 13.12g, 16.98g, 15.43g, and 13.92g higher than T2, T3, T4, and T5 treatment periods, respectively.
This improvement in efficiency resulted in a cost advantage of INR 3,76,290; INR 5,12,231; INR 4,71,463 & INR 4,01,081 in favor of the KEPREX™ LR PRO treatment periods compared to the competitor product control period. Consequently, a return on investment (ROI) of 4:1, 5:1, 5:1, and 4:1 was achieved in the KEPREX™ LR PRO groups.
Based on these results, KEPREX™ LR PRO is a practical and cost-effective solution that ensures uniform delivery of precisely dosed feed additives, leading to improved performance and profitability for poultry farmers.
INTRODUCTION
Poultry farming is the most rapidly developing branch of the agro-industrial complex, which demands better quality of feed and feeding technology for poultry. A lack of feed and rising feed costs stimulate the need to seek opportunities to further increase the biological value of basic feeds and to determine the texture of compound feeds, in which the addition of biologically active substances and feed additives would be the most effective. The premix products in feed industries will have different combinations of multiple feed additives, such as vitamins, minerals, enzymes, acidifiers, surfactants, probiotics, and other feed substances, which play an important role in diets. The Asia-Pacific region currently holds most of the global market share for poultry feed premix and is expected to maintain this position during the forecast period because of improved R&D capabilities and increased consumption of meat and meat-related products, particularly in India. To ensure that birds consume sufficient nutrients, premixes are added to their diets to compensate for shortages caused by changes in the natural concentration of certain nutrients. The premixes are manufactured with cost-effective formulations for healthy growth, productivity, and immunity to attain excellent health, increase livability, and enhance the quality of animal products, among other goals. Therefore, many countries of the world have tended to use premixes instead of protein concentrate in bird diets to get rid of the pathological infections that occur and to ensure that the bird gets its needs of nutrients and vitamins.
Kemin Agrifoods, India, has entered the premix business to cater to feed mill and poultry customers with customized formulations. KEPREX™ is a highly competitive and comprehensive feed premix for poultry feed, offering improvement in the efficiency of premixing at the feed mill and better performance from the birds at the field level.
OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to increase the production of eggs using feed additives-based premix containing “KEPREX™ LR PRO” in compound feeds for laying hens.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The trial was conducted at a customer commercial layer farm facility in Telangana, India, from 19\09\2022 to 12\03\2023 for 25 weeks. A total of Thirty Thousand and Nine Hundred white leghorn birds (Skylark Bovans) of age 29 weeks were selected from a single shed, which is suffering from the problem of lower egg production performance from peak production age by considering the farm observations, the experimental design was divided into five experimental periods containing control and treatment of five weeks each, along with birds’ age (Table 1). The five experimental periods used were as follows: T1 (control period) – Added the premix “Competitor product” to basal diet formulated by customer and supplied by Aviops Nutraceuticals Company; T2, T3, T4 & T5 (treatment periods) – Added the premix “KEPREX™ LR PRO” to basal diet formulated by Kemin technical person and supplied by Kemin Industries South Asia Pvt. Ltd. Company. Hereafter, for a better understanding of studies, experiment period T1 is referred to as a control period, and T2, T3, T4 & T5 experiment periods will be referred to as treatment periods.
The premix “Competitor product” contains a multi-component toxin binder, multi-component acidifier, liver stimulant powder, NSP degrading enzyme complex, phytase, probiotics, trace minerals, and vitamins as per the latest specification fortified with choline and amla in a free-flowing phyllosilicate base. Whereas the premix “KEPREX™ LR PRO” is a combination of essential supplements and additives that go into poultry layer feed, such as vitamins, organic trace minerals, digestive enzymes (NSP Enzymes, Phytase, and Protease), biosurfactants, hepato-protectants, active microbial, mycotoxin control agents, and antioxidants. The experiment diets have corresponded to the formulated basal diet containing premix products, added at a dose of 5kg per metric ton of feed, implying a premix nutritional matrix of 0.80% crude protein (CP), 80 kcal/kg metabolizable energy (ME), available phosphorous 0.1%, and 1 % digestible amino acids (DAA) in the ration calculation. Before carrying out a series of experiments on laying hens, we studied the chemical and amino acid composition of the T1 premix diet containing “Competitor Product” and T2, T3, T4 & T5 premix diets containing “KEPREX™ LR PRO” using feed formulation software (Brill® Feed Management System, Inc). Diet T2, T3, T4 & T5 were formulated on a digestible amino acid (DAA) basis, keeping lysine as the reference amino acid by using the same feed formulation software. Feed cost was measured by calculating raw material costs. The ingredient composition and calculated analysis of the experimental rations used are presented in Table 2.
Table 1: Details of experimental periods.
| Periods | Birds Age | Description |
| T1* | 29th – 33rd week | Added the premix “Competitor Product” @ 5Kg/MT of feed to a basal diet formulated by the customer |
| T2 | 34th – 38th week | Added the premix “KEPREX™ LR PRO” @ 5kg/MT of feed to a basal diet formulated by Kemin |
| T3 | 39th – 43rd week | |
| T4 | 44th – 48th week | |
| T5 | 49th – 53rd week |
*T1 – Control period
T2, T3, T4 & T5 – Treatment period
Table 2: The ingredients and chemical compositions of experimental period diets
| Parameters | T1 | T2, T3, T4 & T5 |
| Maize | 300 | 300 |
| Broken Rice | 200 | 240 |
| Soybean Meal (45%) | 140 | 125 |
| De-oiled Rice Bran (DORB) | 120 | 90 |
| Groundnut De-oiled Cake (GN DOC) | 60 | 60 |
| Rapeseed Meal | 40 | 40 |
| Stone Grit | 123 | 123 |
| Di-Calcium Phosphate (DCP) | 7 | 10 |
| Salt | 3 | 3 |
| Sodium Bicarbonate | 0 | 1.5 |
| L-Lysine HCL | 0.5 | 0.75 |
| DL-Methionine | 1 | 1.5 |
| Choline Chloride (60%) | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Competitor product (Premix) | 5 | 0 |
| KEPREX™ LR PRO (Premix) | 0 | 5 |
| Total | 1000 | 1000.25 |
| Cost/kg in INR | 24.88 | 24.98 |
| Nutrient Specification | ||
| Crude Protein (%) | 16.86 | 16.56 |
| Metabolizable Energy (Kcal/Kg) | 2442 | 2545 |
| Crude Fiber (%) | 4.45 | 4.16 |
| Ether Extract (Fat) (%) | 2.78 | 2.67 |
| Calcium (%) | 4.06 | 4.12 |
| Available Phosphorus (%) | 0.33 | 0.38 |
| Digestible Lysine (%) | 0.70 | 0.71 |
| Digestible Methionine (%) | 0.34 | 0.39 |
| Digestible Cystine (%) | 0.21 | 0.21 |
| Digestible Arginine (%) | 1.11 | 1.08 |
| Digestible Threonine (%) | 0.50 | 0.49 |
| Digestible Tryptophan (%) | 0.18 | 0.17 |
| Digestible Isoleucine (%) | 0.56 | 0.56 |
| Digestible Valine (%) | 0.67 | 0.67 |
| Digestible M+C (%) | 0.56 | 0.60 |
| Linoleic-Acid (%) | 0.94 | 0.92 |
| Sodium (%) | 0.17 | 0.18 |
| Chloride (%) | 0.25 | 0.23 |
| Potassium (%) | 0.71 | 0.69 |
| Choline (Mg/Kg) | 1385 | 1375 |
| Salt (Na+K-Cl) – DEB (%) | 182 | 188 |
| ME: CP Ratio | 156 | 154 |
The experiment was divided into five periods of 5 weeks (35 days) each to collect data and to calculate the variables of performance. The productive characteristics that were evaluated are Egg production (%), feed consumption (g), feed consumption per egg (g), and mortality (%). Actual egg production for all five periods was compared with the standard egg production of respective periods as per Skylark Bovans management guide for a better understanding of the effect of premix products on egg production. Feed consumption per period was recorded periodically and used to calculate daily feed intake per hen. Feed consumption per egg was calculated through the ratio between feed intake and egg production. The laying hens were housed in a California cage in an open-house system under the same managerial and hygienic conditions throughout the experiment. The birds were fed in the morning and afternoon with feed and water provided on an ad-libitum basis. All experimental protocols were followed by the Kemin technical team based on their standard protocol.
RESULTS
Nutrient analysis of feed formulation:
The nutrient composition analysis of “competitor product” and “KEPREX™ LR PRO” feed formulation is presented in Table 2. Results of the nutrient composition study suggest that the metabolizable energy in the T2, T3, T4 & T5 diets supplemented with “KEPREX™ LR PRO” was 2545Kcal/kg, which was 103Kcal/kg higher than in the T1 diet supplemented with “competitor product”. The amount of crude fiber was 0.29% lower in “KEPREX™ LR PRO” concentrate than in “competitor product”, which had a positive effect on the quality of the resulting product. The amount of digestible methionine (%) as an amino acid in T2, T3, T4, & T5 was 0.39%, which was 0.05% higher than in the T1 diet.
Egg production:
The goal of layer poultry producers in raising laying hens is to achieve the standard egg production recommended by breed manuals. This was clearly shown by the results obtained from the treatment period in the experiment conducted on laying hens. The inconsistent results in egg production were observed when birds received a T1 control period diet. On the other hand, when the treatment period (T2, T3, T4 & T5) diets were fed on top with “KEPREX™ LR PRO” to the birds, not only did it increase the laying rate over the T1 control period, but also surpassed the egg production above the standards set by the breed company during subsequent treatment periods (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Standard versus actual egg production during experimental periods
Similarly, it was found that the use of the premix “KEPREX™ LR PRO” under T2, T3, T4 & T5 treatment periods contributed to an increase in gross egg production (Table 3). As can be seen from the data in Table 3, 27.45 eggs per hen were obtained in the T1 control period, while 31.63, 33.17, 33.28 & 32.90 eggs per hen were produced in the T2, T3, T4 & T5 treatment periods, respectively, during the experimental period. This parameter in the treatment period exceeded the T1 control period by 13.21%, 17.26%, 17.52% & 16.56% respectively.
Table 3: Egg-laying capacity of the laying hens during experimental periods.
| Parameters | Periods | ||||
| T1 | T2 | T3 | T4 | T5 | |
| Competitor product | KEPREX™ LR PRO | ||||
| Total number of birds | 30900 | 30735 | 30543 | 30339 | 30128 |
| Total number of eggs produced | 843640 | 965970 | 1006470 | 1002680 | 981000 |
| Average egg-laying by one hen | 27.45 | 31.63 | 33.17 | 33.28 | 32.90 |
| Egg produced over T1 (%) | 13.21 | 17.26 | 17.52 | 16.56 | |
Feed consumption:
It was established that with the use of the premix containing “KEPREX™ LR PRO” in the feed for laying hens of the treatment period, the total feed consumption during the entire experiment was higher by 4, 5, 6 & 5 metric tons in T2, T3, T4, & T5 treatment periods, respectively (Table 4). At the same time, an important indicator in assessing the egg productivity of hens is the feed consumption per egg. The feed consumption per egg in the T2, T3, T4 & T5 treatment periods was 122.11g, 118.24g, 119.79g & 121.30g, which is lower by 13.12g, 16.98g, 15.43g & 13.92g, respectively, than in the T1 control period (135.23g) as shown in Figure 2.
Table 4: Feed consumption of the laying hens during experimental periods.
| Parameters | Periods | |||||
| T1 | T2 | T3 | T4 | T5 | ||
| Competitor product | KEPREX™ LR PRO | |||||
| Total feed consumption (MT) | 114 | 118 | 119 | 120 | 119 | |
| Difference in feed consumption (MT) | +4 | +5 | +6 | +5 | ||
Figure 2: Feed consumption per egg during experimental periods.
Mortality:
The observations regarding mortality in all five experimental periods are presented in Figure 3. The observed mortality pattern was higher in T2, T3, T4 & T5 treatment period diets supplemented with the premix “KEPREX™ LR PRO”. The total mortality recorded during the experiment in the T1 control period was 165 birds. At the same time, the calculation of the mortality birds from T2, T3, T4 & T5 was 192, 204, 211, and 307, respectively. The higher mortality during the T5 treatment period was mainly due to the viral outbreak at the farm, which was well taken and prevented by early stepping measures.
Figure 3: Cumulative mortality during experimental periods.
Cost efficiency and return on investment (ROI):
The cost efficiency & ROI of the premix containing “KEPREX™ LR PRO” as part of the feed are shown in Table 5. Despite the higher feed consumption, mortality, and price of formulated feed in the treatment periods, an increase in the gross production of eggs by 1,22,330; 1,62,830; 1,59,040 & 1,37,360 in T2, T3, T4, & T5 treatment periods, respectively, compared with the T1 control period. This improvement in gross egg production made it possible to obtain an additional net profit of INR 4,89,320; INR 6,51,320; INR 6,36,160 & INR 5,49,440 through the sale of eggs from T2, T3, T4, & T5 treatment period, respectively. As a result, the cost advantage of the use of premix was INR 3,76,290; INR 5,12,231; INR 4,71,463 & INR 4,01,081 in favor of “KEPREX™ LR PRO” treatment periods compared to the “Competitor product” control period.A detailed ROI was carried out for all the treatment period groups, which depicted that supplementation of “KEPREX™ LR PRO” in T2, T3, T4, & T5 provided an ROI of 4:1, 5:1, 5:1, and 4:1, respectively, indicating the economic benefits of the program in layer feed.
Table 5: Cost efficiency and economic benefits during experimental periods.
| Parameters | Periods | ||||
| T1 | T2 | T3 | T4 | T5 | |
| Competitor Product | KEPREX™ LR PRO | ||||
| Number of birds | 30900 | 30735 | 30543 | 30339 | 30128 |
| Gross egg production | 843640 | 965970 | 1006470 | 1002680 | 981000 |
| Gross egg sale revenues (INR) | 3374560 | 3863880 | 4025880 | 4010720 | 3924000 |
| Net profit/loss from egg sale (INR) | 489320 | 651320 | 636160 | 549440 | |
| Feed consumption (kgs) | 114000 | 118000 | 119000 | 120000 | 119000 |
| Feed cost per kg (INR) | 24.88 | 24.98 | 24.98 | 24.98 | 24.98 |
| Cost of feed consumption (INR) | 2836833 | 2947434 | 2972412 | 2997390 | 2972412 |
| Net profit/loss from feed Intake (INR) | -110601 | -135579 | -160557 | -135579 | |
| Number of mortality birds | 165 | 192 | 204 | 211 | 307 |
| Cost of mortality birds (INR) | 14850 | 17280 | 18360 | 18990 | 27630 |
| Net profit/loss from mortality (INR) | – | -2430 | -3510 | -4140 | -12780 |
| Cost advantage of using “KEPREX™ LR PRO.” | – | 376290 | 512231 | 471463 | 401081 |
| Total Inclusion Cost of KEPREX™ LR PRO (INR) | – | 100300 | 101150 | 102000 | 101150 |
| RoI | – | 3.75 | 5.06 | 4.62 | 3.97 |
DISCUSSION
In commercial egg production, production is determined based on the number of eggs laid. In the experiment conducted on laying hens, supplementation with KEPREX™ LR PRO during the T2, T3, T4 & T5 treatment periods improved performance, with more efficient feed utilization and higher egg production. At the same time, the calculation of the feed consumption per egg in the T1 control period was 135.23 g, which is 13.12g, 16.98g, 15.43g & 13.92g higher than T2, T3, T4 & T5 treatment periods, respectively. Nikolaev et al. (2019) reported in reference that egg production is intimately related to the growth and physiological condition of the hens’ reproductive organs and is influenced by the rate at which their bodies undergo metabolic processes8. Similarly, the author also observed that the reduction of feed consumption per unit of output is facilitated by balanced rations7. The inconsistent results in egg production as well as feed consumption per egg in the T1 control period diet demonstrated that the nutritional composition provided was not enough to fulfill productive performance levels. This has been well proven through analysis of the chemical composition of the feed formulations using Brill software, which showed lower metabolizable energy values of 103 kcal/kg and digestible methionine in the diet. Apart from this, the available feed raw materials are poor in quality, being deficient in available energy, protein, and minerals, which calls for the use of new, more modern sources3.
Peak performance, expressed in weeks and percentages, will show the health of the farm and flock and should be attained in accordance with breed standards to improve flock economic efficiency. Therefore, despite the higher feed consumption, mortality, and price of formulated feed in the treatment periods, the improvement in gross egg production and lower feed consumption per egg made it possible to obtain an additional cost advantage along with better return on investment (RoI) in favor of treatment periods. As a result, “KEPREX™ LR PRO” is an accessible and inexpensive solution designed to ensure proper distribution of precisely measured feed additives to give greater performance and profitability for poultry farmers at the appropriate time.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, analysis of the egg productivity of laying hens showed that the birds from the experimental group, in which premix based on “KEPREX™ LR PRO” was used, had a higher egg-laying capacity and better feed efficiency per egg. The addition of feed additive premix based on “KEPREX™ LR PRO” to the formulated diet helped to increase birds’ productivity and feed utilization efficiency, which had a beneficial impact on the cost-effectiveness (ROI) of poultry operations.
References are available upon request.