Effects of Feeding Varying of Castor Fruit Meal (Ricinus communis) on Performance Characteristics of Layers

A site week feeding trial was conducted to study the effects of varying levels of castor fruit meal (CFM) on 40-week old Shavers 579 strains layers. Sixty-four layers were allotted to four dietary treatments, 1,23 and 4 which contained 0, 3.5, 7.0 and 14% castor fruit meal respectively. Layers in group (control diet) was significantly better (p<0.05) than the rest fed other diets in feed intake, hen-day production, egg weight, egg mass output and feed conversion efficiency. There were no significant differences (p>0.05) among the four dietary treatments in body weight, egg index, yolk percentage, albumen percentage, shell thickness and Haugh units. This study reveals that the inclusion of CFM in the diet of layers has adverse effects on their performance characteristics that are valued by poultry operators.