Table 3
Performance, egg qualities and serum characteristics of layers fed cashew reject meal based diets

	Control	Defatted cashew reject meal			Full fat cashew reject meal
	0%	50%	75%	100%	25%	37.5%	50%	SEM
Performance characteristics, g
Initial Live Wt	1565.00	1570.50	1480..00	1355.70	1443.80	1520.40	1505.50	65.55
Final Live Wt	1576.70^ab	1586.70^a	1496.00^c	1400.00^c	1500.00^bc	1676.70^a	1650.00^a	80.10
Av. body wt gained	10.00^c	15.10^c	15.50^c	44.00^b	55.50^b	155.20^a	144 .00^a	13.10
Hen day Prod. (%)	63.90^ab	67.20^a	68.90^a	62.70^ab	58.60^b	55.80^b	58.60^b	5.00
Feed intake (g/day)	130^a	140^a	130^a	110^c	128^a	125^ab	115b^c	7.30
Abdominal fat wt	4.34^c	4.28^c	5.60^b	5.97^b	5.62^b	6.24^ab	8.01^a	0.55
Feed conversion R.	3.66	4.36	3.38	3.57	3.65	4.16	4.11	0.52
Cost of feed (₦)	59.71^a	53.66^b	50.64^bc	47.51^c	56.27^ab	54.02^bc	51.77^bc	2.10
Cost/kg egg weight, ₦	218.53^ab	244.69^a	171.16^c	169.61^c	200.50^b	204.93^b	212.77^b	11.50
Egg quality characteristics
Egg weight, g	49.7	53.7	53.83	49.00	49.83	53.00	49.00	1.5
Shell thickness, mm	0.33	0.34	0.34	0.33	0.32	0.32	0.34	0.03
Yolk thickness, cm	1.56	1.58	1.59	1.62	1.56	1.61	1.65	0.25
Albumen thickness, cm	0.66	0.66	0.70	0.59	0.59	0.65	0.65	0.05
Serum composition
Cholesterol, mg/dl	55.00	50.00	55.05	62.00	64.00	62.00	65.00	8.50
Protein, g/dl	4.20	3.65	3.95	3.70	3.60	3.70	4.15	0.35
Albumin, g/dl	2.40	2.20	2.00	2.30	2.10	1.90	2.30	0.25
Globulin, g/dl	1.80	1.45	1.95	1.40	1.50	1.80	1.85	0.55