Fiber level for laying hens during the growing phase

Abstract

Feeding management of laying hens has been focused on the direct influence of nutrient intake on weight gain, especially at growing phase. This study evaluates nutrient digestibility, performance, development of the digestive tract, body composition, and bone quality of two strains of laying hens fed with different levels of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) during the growing phase from the 7 th to the 12 th week of age. A total of 1,296 birds were distributed in a completely randomized design in a 2 x 3 factorial arrangement (two strains x three levels of NDF) with four replicates of 54 birds per treatment. Semi-heavy (Hy Line Brown) and light-strain (Lohman LSL) pullets were allotted to dietary treatments consisting of 14.50, 16.50, and 18.50% NDF. An interaction between strains and NDF levels was observed only for feed/gain ratio and light-strain pullets had lower performance with 18.50% NDF. The increasing levels of NDF in the diet reduced the coefficients of digestibility of dry matter, nitrogen and gross energy, and the values of metabolizable energy. Higher levels of NDF in the diet increased the relative weight of liver and intestines and reduced gizzard weight. It was also observed differences between bone quality and composition of the femur and tibia of light and semiheavy hens. The increase in NDF level in ration for growing phase laying hens above 14.50% decreases the nutrient digestibility and the metabolizable energy of the diet; however, it does not affect the carcass composition, bone quality, feed intake, and weight gain, although it may impair feed conversion of light-strain pullets.Index terms: Growth, insoluble fiber, neutral detergent fiber, strain. RESUMOO manejo alimentar de poedeiras tem sido avaliado quanto à influência direta da ingestão de nutrientes no ganho de peso, principalmente na fase de crescimento. No estudo, objetivou-se avaliar os efeitos dos níveis de fibra em detergente neutro (FDN) das rações de recria (7ª e 12ª semanas de idade) sobre a digestibilidade dos nutrientes da ração, desempenho, desenvolvimento do trato digestório, composição corporal e qualidade óssea das aves de duas linhagens de poedeiras comerciais. Foram utilizadas 1.296 aves distribuídas em um delineamento experimental inteiramente casualizado em esquema fatorial dois x três (duas linhagens x três níveis de FDN) com quatro repetições de 54 aves por tratamento. Foram avaliadas aves de uma linhagem de poedeira semipesada (Hy Line Brown) e leve (Lohman LSL) e testados os níveis de 14,50; 16,50 e 18,50% de FDN. Houve interação significativa entre linhagem e nível de FDN sobre a conversão alimentar, com pior desempenho para essa característica em aves de linhagem leve ao nível de 18,50%. O aumento da FDN na ração reduziu os coeficientes de digestibilidade da matéria seca, nitrogênio e energia bruta e os valores de energia metabolizável. Observou-se que o acréscimo de FDN na ração aumentou o peso relativo do fígado e intestinos e reduziu o da moela. Foram observadas diferenças na composição e qualidade óss...

Growth, carcass, and physiological traits of growing male China Micro-ducks fed various levels of dietary crude fibre

“…Hetland et al (2003), BoguslawskaTryk (2005), and Yokhana et al (2016) reported no effect of the insoluble fibre inclusion in the diet on the relative pancreas weight in poultry, which is almost consistent with the present results. Freitas et al (2014) and Yokhana et al (2016) illustrated that feeding pullets the diets with addition of insoluble fibre for more than 5 weeks resulted in significantly greater relative liver weight, which was opposite to the present results. In addition, the present study displayed that the dietary CF level positively influenced the relative thymus weight.…”

“…Jimenez-Moreno et al (2011) found that the relative weight of caeca in broilers from 1 to 18 days of age increased linearly with the increasing level of pea hulls in the diet. Freitas et al (2014) suggested that 7-week-old Hy-Line Brown pullets given increased dietary neutral detergent fibre for 5 weeks had significantly increased intestinal weights. Yokhana et al (2016) reported that the relative weights of the small intestines were raised in 19-week-old hens but were not changed in 8-week-old pullets with the dietary supplementation of insoluble fibre.…”

Behavior of laying chicks fed diets containing sources and levels of dietary fiber in the starter phase

“…of life ( VAN HIERdEN et al, 2002;FREITAS et al, 2014). Therefore, beak trimming is conventionally performed with industrial machine and burning of the tip of the beak of birds, to avoid cannibalism inside the cages.…”

“…Therefore, beak trimming is conventionally performed with industrial machine and burning of the tip of the beak of birds, to avoid cannibalism inside the cages. In the first weeks of life , chicks sleep and play more, reducing food consumption, constantly stimulated to visit the feeder (MATEOS et al, 2012;FREITAS et al, 2014). In this period, some authors also describe the development of digestive organs that may interfere in the utilization of nutrients and consequent reproductive development.…”

“…The rations for non-ruminant animals are commonly not formulated in the composition of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and ADF, but in CF (FREITAS et al, 2014). Therefore, in this experiment, the recommended levels of fiber were used, evaluating diets with the same level of CF, but with feedstuffs that have distinct fractions of sugars that are constituents of the cell wall.…”