Water consumption pattern of laying hens under hot humid conditions

Abstract

Objective o f the present study was to understand the water consumption pattern o f laying hens under hot-humid conditions. Seventeen-week old layer pullets (n=25) were randomly allocated to 5 cages. Each cage had a feeder and a drinker. Daily feed and water intake and, the egg production were recorded from 18th to 26th week. The laying cycle commenced when birds were 19 weeks old. The mean body weight o f the birds at the commencement o f the laying cycle was 1235 g. Laying hens consumed more water during day time than night time. The day time water intake doubled from 72 ml to 145 ml/day/bird from 18th week to 26th week. The night time water intake increased slowly from 72 ml at 18th week to 89 ml at 26th week. The total water intake o f non-laying pullets significantly increased (p<0.01) from 147 ml/bird/day to 176 ml/bird/day during the first week o f laying cycle. The intake o f water gradually increased up to 234 ml/day when birds were 26 weesk old. The intake o f water increased non-significantly from week 20-25. Water: feed ratio o f the pullets was 1.4 and increased non significantly to 1.5 during the first week o f the laying cycle. Then the water: feed ratio increased gradually up to 23rd week (2.0) and then declined to 1.2 at 26th week. Non laying pullets drank 12.6 ml o f water/100 g o f body weight. Water consumption per unit body weight increased as laying cycle progressed and reached a maximum (16.7ml/100 g body weight) at 26th week. During the first week o f laying cycle (19th week), birds drank 4.4 ml/g o f egg produced. The consumption o f water per unit o f egg increased significantly during the second week o f the cycle (4.9 ml/g o f egg) and then declined to maintain at a constant level around 4.4 ml during the rest o f the study period. The daily water requirement (ml/day/bird) o f a laying hen could be expressed as 152.5 + 0.2 X; (R =0.59) where x is the sum o f live weight and egg weight.