The Possibility of Using Watermelon Waste in Laying Hens Diets

In this experiment 240 Hy-Line (W-36) laying hens from 65 to 75 weeks distributed in 5 treatments and 4 replicates (12 birds per replicate) in a completely randomized design were used. The amounts of watermelon skin meal (WSM) used to set the treatments were 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2% in 1 to 5 experimental groups. The results showed that using WSM up to 2% significantly improved the performance and egg traits of laying hens (P<0.05). The highest amounts of egg weight, egg mass and egg production percentage, the best feed conversion, the lowest feed price for production per kilogram of egg, the highest albumen quality percentage were observed by using 2% WSM. By using 2% WSM the eggshell and yolk weight significantly decreased (P<0.05). The overall results indicated that in laying hens, using watermelon skin meal up to 2% of diets, significantly improved their performance and reduced the production cost.