# Impact of Soybean Meal, Mustard Meal, Rapeseed Meal and Black Cumin on Production Performance, Egg Quality and Gut Microflora of Laying Hens

## TL;DR

This study found that adding mustard meal, rapeseed meal, and black cumin to laying hens' diets improved weight gain and gut health without harming egg quality.

## Contribution

The study introduces mustard meal, rapeseed meal, and black cumin as effective and cost-efficient substitutes for soybean meal in layer diets.

## Key findings

- Hens fed with mustard, rapeseed, and black cumin diets showed higher body weight gain and lower gut microflora.
- Egg production and quality remained unaffected despite dietary changes.
- Replacing soybean meal with these alternatives reduced egg production costs.

## Abstract

This study aimed to assess the impact of diverse protein sources (soybean, mustard, rapeseed and black cumin [BC]) as dietary supplements on production performance, egg quality and gut microflora of Shaver Brown 579 commercial layers.

A randomized design allocated 324 hens over 4 months into six treatments with six replications for each treatment, each replication containing 09 birds. The treatments included T0 (control diet), T1 (basal diet + soybean), T2 (basal diet + mustard), T3 (basal diet + rapeseed), T4 (basal diet + mustard + BC) and T5 (Basal diet + Rapeseed + Black cumin). Production performances were assessed monthly and egg quality characters were assessed at 44th and 52nd weeks.

Hens on diets featuring mustard, rapeseed and BC exhibited significantly higher body weight gain (BWG), without substantial impact on feed intake. The highest final body weight was observed in T5, with no mortality occurrences. No significant differences emerged in egg production, albumen index, shape index, shell breaking strength, shell thickness or shell percentage compared to control groups. However, egg weight showed significance in the third month (p < 0.05). Notably, dietary protein sources influenced gut microflora significantly (p < 0.05), with T0 having the highest microbial load and T5 the lowest. Egg production cost was the lowest in T4 (7.13 Tk. or $0.067/egg), where mustard oil cake and BC replaced soybean meal (SBM), whereas T1 recorded the highest cost (7.68 Tk. or $0.072/egg) using SBM.

Mustard meal, rapeseed meal and BC are effective SBM substitutes in layer diets without any adverse effect on egg quality or production. These findings highlight the potential of mustard meal, rapeseed meal and BC as quality protein sources in commercial layer nutrition.

The inclusion of novel protein sources such as mustard meal, rapeseed meal and black cumin in layer diets demonstrates promising results without compromising egg quality, improves body weight gain and reduced gut microflora and Escherichia coli. Overall, strategically integrating these alternative protein sources shows potential for cost savings.