F Manyeula - Department of Animal Science and Production, Private Bag ۰۰۲۷, Gaborone, Botswana
C Tsopito - Department of Animal Science and Production, Private Bag ۰۰۲۷, Gaborone, Botswana
J Kamau - Department of Animal Science and Production, Private Bag ۰۰۲۷, Gaborone, Botswana
K.K Mogotsi - Department of Crop Science and Production, Private Bag ۰۰۲۷, Gaborone, Botswana

A feeding trial was conducted to determine growth and laying performance of indigenous Tswana hens fed diets formulated with four different protein sources consisting of either Tylosema esculentum (Burchell) or Vigna subterranea (L) Verde or Imbrasia belina (Westwood) and commercial diets under intensive system in Botswana. Sixty 25 weeks old normal feathered Tswana hens were bought from a local farmer and reared up to 38 weeks on diets containing T. esculentum (Burchell) or V. subterranea (L) Verde or I. belina (Westwood) and a commercial diet (control). The hens were then randomly allocated to four treatment groups of 15 hens, with each treatment having three replicates of five hens each. Tylosema esculentum, V. subterranea and I. belina diets were formulated to meet the nutritional composition of commercial layer diet using T. esculentum (Burchell) Schreiber beans, V. subterranea (L) Verde beans and I. belina (Westwood), respectively as sources of protein before the start of egg production. Data were analyzed using PROC GLM of SAS (2002-2008) as a completely randomized design with initial body weight as a covariate. Hens fed control diet had high (P<0.05) feed intake (84.6±7.9 g) and those fed T. esculentum diet the lowest feed intake (54.6±7.9 g). Hens fed I. belina, control and V. subterranea diets had the highest (P<0.05) average daily gain (ADG) per hen of 4.77±1.31g, 3.27±1.16 g and 3.13±1.51 g, respectively. On the other hand, hens fed T. esculentum diet had the lowest (P<0.05)ADG/hen (-0.82±1.60 g). The FCR was highest (P<0.05) for controldiet with 1.76±0.16 g and lowest for hens fed I. belina diet with1.10±0.16 g. Hen day egg production was highest (P<0.05) for controldiet (90±0.87%) and lowest (41±0.87%) for T. esculentum diet. Theseresults suggest that I. belina (Westwood) and V. subterranea (L)Verde are potentially good protein sources in poultry diets.

Tswana hens, Tylosema esculentum (Burchell), Vigna subterranean (L) Verde, Imbrasia belina (Westwood), Laying performance