The effect of feeding hens a peanut skin-containing diet on hen performance, and shell egg quality and lipid chemistry

Authors: Toomer, Ondulla; Vu, Thien; WYSOCKY, REBECCA - North Carolina State University; MORAES, VERA - North Carolina State University; MALHEIROS, RAMON - North Carolina State University; ANDERSON, KENNETH - North Carolina State University

Submitted to: Agriculture
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/13/2021
Publication Date: 9/17/2021
Citation: Toomer, O.T., Vu, T.C., Wysocky, R., Moraes, V., Malheiros, R., Anderson, K.E. 2021. The effect of feeding hens a peanut skin-containing diet on hen performance, and shell egg quality and lipid chemistry. Agriculture. 11:894. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture11090894.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture11090894

Interpretive Summary: Historically, agricultural research interest has focused on peanut production, oil extraction and the kernel of the peanut with little research focus on the use of the agricultural waste and by-products such as peanut skins, vines and hulls. Although peanut skins are considered an agricultural waste by-product, they contain on average 12% protein, 16% fat, and 72% carbohydrates, while providing approximately 140 to 150 mg/g dry skin of total polyphenolic compounds (Nepote et al., 2002). However, very few studies have identified the effective utilization of peanut skins and/or extracts within the animal food production or poultry industry. Current studies conducted within the Food Science and Market Quality and Handling Research Unit have demonstrated that eggs produced from layer hens fed whole, unblanched, high-oleic peanuts had a 30-35% increase in monounsaturated fats, 70% increase in beta-carotene, and 35% increase in yolk color intensity when compared to conventionally produced shell eggs. Thus, suggesting that feeding high-oleic peanuts with intact peanut skins to egg-producing layer hens may be an economical and effective means to enrich the eggs produced and may be of value to peanut and egg producers globally. In this study, we demonstrate that feeding egg-producing laying hens a peanut skin supplemented diet does not adversely affect hen performance, shell egg quality or lipid profile.

Technical Abstract: Peanut skins are a considerable waste product with little current economic value or use. We aimed to determine the dietary effects of peanut skins on layer production performance and egg quality and chemistry of the eggs produced. Two hundred commercial hens were randomly assigned to four treatments (five replicates) and fed ad libitum for 8 weeks: conventional control diet, diet containing 24% high-oleic peanut (HOPN), diet containing 3% peanut skin (PN Skin), and a diet with 2.5% oleic acid (OA). Hens fed the HOPN diet had significantly reduced body weights relative to the control and PN Skin treatments, producing fewer total eggs over the 8-week experimental period. Eggs weights were similar between the control and PN Skin treatments at weeks 2 and 4, while eggs from the PN Skin treatment group were heavier than other treatments at weeks 6 and 8 of the experiment. Eggs produced from the HOPN treatment had reduced saturated fatty acid (FA) content in comparison to the other treatment groups, while similar between PN Skin and control eggs at week 8 of the experiment. This study suggests that PN skins may be a suitable alternative layer feed ingredient.