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SummaryPrevious estimates of the maintenance ME requirements of laying hens have included an energy contribution to egg production. In the present article the maintenance ME requirements of mature, ovariectomized hens of each of an egg and broiler strain have been used as a basis for determining the minimum ME requirements for different bodyweights, temperatures and rates of egg production. A mean compound percentage reduction in the maintenance ME requirement of 2.7% per 1°C rise in environmental temperature determined for cockerels which have no active ovary, an efficiency of utilization of dietary ME of 75% and an egg energy of 6.5 kJ/g egg were used in the calculations. The minimum ME requirements of laying hens may be derived from the following equations: (i) Egg-producing strain: MEmin = 388W3/4 l 0.027 (22-t) + 8.67 E(ii) Meat-producing strain: MEmin = 450W3/4 l 0.027 (22-t) + 8.67 Ewhere MEmin = minimum ME requirement, kJ/d; W = bodyweight, kg;E = egg product, g/d and t = environmental temperature, °C.
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Balnave et al. (1978) studied this question.
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