Although most industries use a specific diet for the pre-starter phase, ingredients are used in the later phases, primarily corn and soybean meal, which at this stage do not have high digestibility. Three experiments : Exp : were carried out to evaluate the substitution of corn by white or parboiled rice : WR, PR : and the inclusion of 6% soy protein isolate : SPI : in pre-starter diets (1 to 7 d). In Exp 1 (1 to 21 d), WR, PR, and SPI were added to the diets until the birds were 21-day-old, whereas in Exps 2 and 3 (1 to 33 d), only until birds were 7-day-old. Birds were fed a basal diet based on corn and soybean meal until the end of the experimental period. In Exp 1, the coefficients of total tract apparent retention : CTTAR : of the pre-starter and the starter diets, ileal and jejunal digestibility of starch in the starter diets, and broiler performance were measured. Subsequently, the same pre-starter diets Exp 1 were evaluated in pellet (Exp 2) or mash (Exp 3) form and different oil percentage (Exp 2) or not (Exp 3). We hypothesized that the ingredients particle size (Exp 2) and fat content (Exp 3) could influence feed intake. There was no interaction among the evaluated factors (P > 0.05). Rice (WR or PR) promoted better results than corn in terms of CTTAR of dietary components, jejunal and ileal starch digestibility, and broiler performance (P < 0.01). In Exp 1, diets with 6% SPI presented better CTTAR, except Nitrogen ( N: ), but lower feed intake, which negatively affected broiler performance (P < 0.01). In Exps 1, 2, and 3, the inclusion of SPI did not improve broiler performance (P > 0.05), so that SPI may not be the best choice for pre-starter diets. The study also suggests that better growth performance and nutrient digestibility can be obtained in broiler chickens if corn is replaced by rice in pre-starter diets.

Two experiments were carried out to evaluate the bioequivalence of a commercial phosphatidylcholine source (Biocholine™) as an alternative to choline chloride and the choline requirements of broilers of a fast-growth strain. In Experiment I, 672 broilers were fed four Biocholine™ levels (0, 100, 200, or 300 mg/kg) and three choline levels (200, 400, or 600 mg/kg) supplied as choline chloride between 4 and 28 days (d) of age. In Experiment II, 462 broilers received diets supplemented with 0, 200, 400, 600 or 800 mg/kg choline as choline chloride. In both experiments, diets were based on white rice, soybean meal, and corn gluten. In Experiment I, birds fed choline chloride presented higher feed intake than those fed Biocholine™. Both choline supplements linearly improved feed conversion ratio (FCR) between 15 and 28 d, but the curves presented different slopes, showing that one unit (U) of Biocholine™ was equivalent to 2.52 U of choline supplied as choline chloride. In Experiment II, the supplementation of choline had a quadratic effect on weight gain (WG) but did not affect FCR. Choline requirements for WG were determined as 778, 632, and 645 mg/kg for 1-7, 1-35, and 1-42 d of age, respectively.

-An experiment was performed to evaluate the effect of the incubation system -multiple-stage (MS) and single-stage (SS) -on the characteristics at hatching, intestinal morphology, metabolism, and performance of Cobb-500 chickens from 1 to 40 d of age. A total of 1,968 fertile eggs were incubated in two setters under commercial conditions. Birds hatched in SS were longer than those hatched in MS, and the females had higher relative intestinal weight compared with males. However, at hatching, there were no differences in BW and yolk-free body mass from incubation system or sex. In the period from 1-40 d, the birds hatched in SS were heavier, had higher weight gain and better adjusted feed conversion, without differences in feed intake and feed conversion. This result is due mainly to MS females, which always, although in some periods only numerically, exhibited worse responses than the other treatment, lowering the average MS bird performance. Sex influenced the duodenal villi height in chickens at 0 d; females showed larger villi than males. Moreover, the birds hatched in SS had deeper crypts than those hatched in MS. At 7 d, because males had higher feed intake, the differences in duodenal villi height found at hatching disappeared, leaving only a gender effect on jejunum crypt depth: females showed deeper crypts. As regards the metabolism coefficients of nutrients from 5 to 7 d, females were more efficient in metabolizing energy and showed higher apparent metabolizable energy corrected for nitrogen values than males, with no differences caused by the incubation system. The best incubation conditions are obtained with the single-stage system, based on the improved broiler performance (2.98%), especially in the females (5.04%).

Objetivou-se com o estudo avaliar duas metodologias de incorporação da enzima fitase comparando-as a uma dieta basal e ao método de aumentar a suplementação de Fósforo inorgânico na dieta, em busca de uma forma mais eficaz de atenuar o fator antinutricional ácido fítico. Foram observadas características de desempenho de poedeiras Isa Brown, durante 63 dias de período experimental. O delineamento experimental foi inteiramente casualizado com quatro tratamentos e cinco repetições de seis aves. As aves foram submetidas aos tratamentos (dietas): dieta basal (DB), dieta com farelo de arroz desengordurado tratado com fitase (FADFI), método tradicional de incorporação de fitase na dieta sem tratamento prévio do farelo de arroz desengordurado com fitase (MTFI) e dieta com farelo de arroz desengordurado e sem fitase (SEMFI). Os métodos de incorporação da fitase nas rações não influenciaram significativamente (P>0,05) o desempenho das aves, ambos equivalendo-se à dieta basal. O tratamento prévio do farelo de arroz desengordurado com fitase a nível de 300 FTU kg-1 é eficiente, ou seja, tratar somente um ingrediente da dieta com fitase permite incoporar uma quantidade menor de fitase, mantendo bom desempenho. Portanto, os métodos que envolveram fitase, independentemente da metodologia de incorporação, são indicados na alimentação de poedeiras.

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RESUMO Trata-se de um estudo de metabolizabilidade em frangos de corte Cobb, para testar os benefícios do processamento térmico por infravermelho no farelo de arroz integral (FAI) em diferentes tempos (0, 6, 8 e 10min ABSTRACT This is a study of metabolizability in broilers Cobb, to test rice bran infrared (RB) thermal processed at different times (0, 6, 8 and 10min