Abstract
Two Bangladeshi varieties of yellow corn-'Barnali' and 'Khaibhutta' were chemically analysed and used in the diet of laying chicken to determine their replacement value for wheat. Both the new varieties of yellow corn were found to be good sources of energy and the CP contents were comparable to wheat. Forty two, 29-week old randomly selected Starcross Brown commercial pullets were assigned to 7 dietary treatments with 6 replicates, each being an experimental unit. Diets were formulated replacing wheat quantitatively by two varieties of yellow corn either 0, 50, 75 or 100 per cent from a wheat based control diet. The production performance of laying hens fed diets formulated with Barnali or Khaibhutta at different dietary levels during an experimental period of 16 weeks was satisfactory and comparable to wheat based diet. Except egg yolk colour, the other internal arid external egg quality characteristics at 8th and 16th weeks of the experiment did not differ significantly. The egg yolk colour improved significantly (p<0.01) by feeding both the new varieties of corn and the degree of pigmentation of yolk increased as the dietary levels of corn increased at the expense of wheat. Considering laying performance, the new varieties of yellow corn, Barnali or Khaibhutta can be used in layer diet as replacement of wheat. Such a replacement would better that wheat-based diet in terms of egg yolk pigmentation.