## 3 Results
### Nutrient digestibility  
Apparent ileal energy and protein digestibility at week 63 are reported in Table 2. Higher total ileal digestible energy (\(p\) < 0.001) and ileal energy digestibility coefficients (\(p\) < 0.01) were observed in hens on the food waste treatment compared to hens on the control treatment at week 63. Protein digestibility did not differ between the dietary treatments at week 63.  
The mineral intake, excretion, retention, and digestibility for the dietary treatments as ascertained by the total tract collection method at week 63 are reported in Tables 3-6, respectively.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l l l l l l} \hline \hline \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Mineral**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Control**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**Food Waste**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**50:50 Blend**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{**SEM**} & \multicolumn{1}{c}{\(p\)**-Value**} \\ \hline \multirow{6}{*}{Macro minerals (mg/g)} & Ca & 2455 b  & 1448 a  & 1632 a  & 108 & \textless{}0.001 \\  & P & 396 a  & 761 c  & 602 b  & 32.5 & \textless{}0.001 \\  & Na & 59.4 a  & 206 c  & 146 b  & 12.1 & \textless{}0.001 \\  & Mg & 157 c  & 66.7 a  & 107 b  & 7.28 & \textless{}0.001 \\  & K & 558 c  & 250 a  & 394 b  & 24.6 & \textless{}0.001 \\  & S & 137 b  & 95.6 a  & 4.58 & \textless{}0.001 \\  & Fe & 20.6 b  & 15.5 a  & 17.1 a  & 0.63 & 0.002 \\  & Mn & 11.5 c  & 7.34 a  & 9.11 b  & 0.41 & \textless{}0.001 \\ Micro minerals & Mo & 0.30 b  & 0.18 a  & 0.22 a  & 0.01 & \textless{}0.001 \\  & Al & 16.2 b  & 12.6 a  & 13.5 a  & 0.51 & 0.042 \\  & Cr & 0.10 ab  & 0.13 b  & 0.07 a  & 0.01 & 0.014 \\  & Cu & 1.02 b  & 0.72 a  & 0.85 ab  & 0.04 & 0.001 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} a:\({}^{\text{a}}\)\({}^{\text{c}}\) Means within rows not sharing a common suffix were significantly different at the 5% level of probability.  
\end{table}
Table 2: Apparent ileal energy and protein digestibility for experimental treatments at week 63.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l l l l l l} \hline \hline
**Variable** & **Control** & **Food Waste** & **50:50 Blend** & **SEM** & \(p\)**-Value** \\ \hline Digestible energy (kcal/kg) & 2218 a  & 3001 c  & 2658 b  & 76.54 & \textless{}0.001 \\ Energy digestibility coefficient & 0.57 a  & 0.66 b  & 0.62 ab  & 0.01 & 0.009 \\ Protein digestibility coefficient & 0.48 & 0.51 & 0.50 & 0.01 & 0.580 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} a:\({}^{\text{a}}\)\({}^{\text{c}}\) Means within rows not sharing a common suffix were significantly different at the 5% level of probability.  
\end{table}
Table 2: Apparent ileal energy and protein digestibility for experimental treatments at week 63.  
The results showed that hens fed the food waste-based diets had lower intake and excretion for all measured minerals (\(p<0.05\)) compared to those offered the control diets, except for P, Na, and Cr, where mineral intake and excretion were higher for the food waste group (\(p<0.05\); Tables 3 and 4). Hens fed the 50:50 blend showed intermediate responses. Hens fed the food waste-based diets had lower retention of Ca (\(p<0.001\)), Mo (\(p<0.05\)), and Al (\(p<0.01\)) but higher retention of Na (\(p<0.001\)) compared to hens fed the control and 50:50 blend diets. Additionally, hens on the food waste treatment had higher P retention than the control treatment (\(p<0.05\)) and lower Cr retention than the 50:50 blend treatment (\(p<0.01\), Table 5). Consequently, hens fed the food waste-based diets showed higher Mg (\(p<0.001\)), K (\(p<0.001\)), S (\(p<0.001\)), Mn (\(p<0.05\)), and Mo (\(p<0.01\)) digestibility compared to the control counterparts at week 63 (Table 6). In contrast, hens offered the 50:50 blend diets had higher Ca (\(p<0.05\)), Mg (\(p<0.001\)), K (\(p<0.001\)), S (\(p<0.001\)), and Mo (\(p<0.01\)) digestibility than those offered the control diets and higher Cr digestibility (\(p<0.01\)) compared to those fed the food waste-based diets at week 63 (Table 6).