The objective of this research was to evaluate techniques, incubation period, and effects of amino acids in ovo feeding. First, 240 hatching eggs were selected and distributed in a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement (two techniques and 3 d). The parameters of incubation, relative weight of gastrointestinal organs, and classification of embryonic mortality were evaluated. In the second stage, 720 hatching eggs were incubated with five treatments: control, methionine (20 and 30 mg), and lysine (20 and 30 mg). These animals were housed during 14 d. The animals were divided with five treatments, nine replicates, and groupings based on sex. Incubation parameters, performance, intestinal morphometry, and relative weight of digestive tract organs were evaluated. The results indicate that the technique using a 45° needle axis passing through the air chamber hinders hatchability. In the organ weighing, there was no difference between the evaluated factors. For intestinal morphometry, there was only a significant difference between the dose factor for the crypt villi and crypt diameter. To conclude, the technique using a 90° angle without passing through the air chamber is safer for the embryos. The inoculation of methionine (20 and 30 mg) obtained data similar to the control group.

Objective: The effect of environmental enrichment on the behaviour of piglets in the nursery phase was evaluated.Methods: A total of 450 hybrid pigs (21 day old), including both females and uncastrated males, weighing approximately 6 kg, were distributed in a completely randomised design with 3 treatments and 3 replicates of 50 animals each. The treatments were: i) pen without environmental enrichment (control), ii) treatment consisting of continuous environmental enrichment (CEE) with rubber balls throughout the experimental period, and iii) treatment consisting of environmental enrichment with washed balls (EEWB) during the whole experimental period which were removed daily for washing. For the behavioural evaluation, 10 animals were randomly selected per replicate. The behavioural assessments were performed once a week, from 8 am to 6 pm, using images captured with a video camera. The data were submitted to non-parametric analyses, the means were compared using the Bonferroni test, and Person’s correlations were also calculated.Results: A statistical difference (p = 0.001) was observed in the B5 (playful) behaviour; the animals in the EEWB treatment group had a higher frequency of this behaviour than animals in the control treatment group. The animals in the control group showed a higher frequency of B7 behaviour (lying down) (p = 0.026) than those in the EEWB and CEE treatment groups. The animals in the control group had a higher frequency of the B9 (belly nosing) behaviour than those in the EEWB group (p = 0.015). There was a tendency towards a higher frequency of behaviour B3 (walking in the pen) (p = 0.067) when the animals received the control treatment than treatments EEWB or CEE.Conclusion: The use of an enriching object improved the animal welfare and altered the correlation between the evaluated behaviours compared to the animals that did not have environmental enrichment.

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This study investigated the effects of adding different adsorbent substances to broilers feed naturally contaminated by mycotoxins. Two hundred and eighty male 1-day-old chicks, Cobb Slow® lineage, were distributed in a randomized block design with 4 treatments, 5 repetitions with 14 birds each. The treatments consisted of: T1- basal feed naturally contaminated with mycotoxins. T2- basal feed + Bentonite, Thistle Extract, Yeast Extract, Vitamin E and Choline. T3- basal feed + Bentonite, Thistle Extract, yeast cell wall and Silymarin. T4- basal feed + Bentonite and Algae extract. Performance (weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion) at 7, 14, 21, 28 days were evaluated. At 28 days, a portion of the jejunum was collected in two birds by replicate to study the intestinal morphology. The relative weight of the gizzard, proventricle and total intestine was evaluated. The data obtained were analyzed using the statistical program SAS (9.3). With the use of any adsorbents studied, the performance and liver weight were improved in all evaluated periods. Thus, the inclusion of adsorbents improves the performance of the broiler chickens when the feed is contaminated by mycotoxins.