THE NUTRITIONAL-VALUE OF ROSELLE SEED MEAL IN LAYING HEN DIETS

The effects of feeding mechanically extracted roselle seed meal (RSM) to laying hens at dietary levels up to 200 g kg(-1) were studied over a 14-week period. RSM contains 491.1 g crude protein, 59 g ether extract, 169.6 g crude fibre, 113.5 g ash, 6.8 g calcium, 6.6 g total phosphorus and 0.6 g magnesium kg(-1). From chemical analyses the metabolisable energy content of RSM would be expected to be 10.07 MJ kg(-1) but a high value (11.63 MJ kg(-1)) was obtained for true metabolisable energy using chick growth assay. As the inclusion rate of RSM increased rate of lay, feed intake and egg weight were increased (P < 0.01). The dietary treatments had no significant effects on feed conversion ratio, mortality, shell thickness, albumen height, and yolk colour.