Avaliaram-se as características reprodutivas de duas raças puras de poedeiras semipesadas. Foram utilizadas 800 fêmeas, 400 da raça Plymouth Rock White (PRW) e 400 da raça Plymouth Rock Barred (PRB) no período compreendido entre a 16ª e a 24ª semanas de idade, quando todas as aves tiveram o mesmo manejo e receberam água e ração ad libitum. Semanalmente, foram mensurados os parâmetros peso corporal, consumo alimentar, taxa de postura, conversão alimentar, peso dos ovos, peso de oviduto e número de folículos ovarianos. Foi utilizado um delineamento inteiramente casualizado (DIC) com dois tratamentos (PRW e PRB) e cinco repetições de oitenta aves cada, sendo que os dados foram submetidos à análise de variância e as médias comparadas pelo teste "T" de Student a 5% de significância. Observou-se que na 24ª semana de idade as aves da raça PRW apresentaram uma maior taxa de postura (P=0,006) e melhor conversão alimentar (P=0,020), comparado às aves da raça PRB. As aves PRB apresentaram maior peso corporal, comparado ao peso das PRW, entretanto, o peso do oviduto em relação ao peso corporal na 24ª semana e o número de folículos grandes amarelos na 20ª semana de idade foram maiores nas aves da raça PRW, comparado com as aves da raça PRB (P=0,029). Aves poedeiras da raça PRW são mais eficientes nos parâmetros produtivos e apresentam o desenvolvimento do aparelho reprodutivo mais precoce em relação às aves da PRB.

It was evaluated the reproductive traits of two pure breed laying hens. There were used 800 females, 400 White Plymouth Rock (PRW) and 400 Barred Plymouth Rock pullets, from 16 to 24 week of age. Pullets were managed in the same manner and received water and feed ad libitum. Body weight, feed intake, hen-day egg production, feed conversion, egg weight, oviduct weight and number of ovarian follicles were weekly measured. It was used a completely randomized design with two breeds (PRW and PRB) and five replicates of 80 pullets. The data were submitted to ANOVA and means compared by Student's T test 5% of significance. At 24 weeks of age the PRW pullets had a higher egg production (P=0.006) and better feed conversion (P=0.020) than the PRBs. The PRBs presented higher body weight than the PRWs, however, the number of large yellow follicles at 20 weeks, and the relative oviduct weight at 24 weeks of age were greater in the PRW pullets (P=0.029). The PRW pullets were more efficient in the production parameters and were more precocious in the development of the reproductive tract than PRB pullets.

The objective of this study was to evaluate bird responses to flavophospholipol at higher doses than those recommended by the Brazilian legislation. A trial was conducted with 900 male broilers divided into five doses of flavophospholipol: 0, 2, 4, 8 and 16 mg/kg. The performance evaluation was conducted weekly until 42 days of age. The evaluated parameters were: weight gain, feed conversion corrected for mortality, feed intake and mortality. At the end of experimental period, birds supplemented with growth promoter differed from the negative control for weight gain and feed conversion in the period from 1 to 42 days. Body weight gain and feed conversion were significantly higher for birds fed 16 mg/kg of flavophospholipol, compared with treatment without the growth promoter in the period from 1 to 21 days. In the accumulated period from 22 to 42 days, all doses were different for the negative control for feed conversion and body weight gain. The performance improvement was maximized at the dosage of 10.1 mg/kg for feed conversion ratio and 10.9 mg/kg for body weight gain by regression analysis. Flavomycin can be used as a growth promoter to improve feed conversion ratio and body weight gain in broilers from 1 to 42 days of age.

A digestibility trial with 16 to 21-day-old turkeys was conducted to study the effects of feed form and corn particle size on the coefficient of total intestinal tract apparent digestibility of dry matter (DM), nitrogen (N), ether extract (EE), aparent metabolizable energy (AME) and aparent metabolizable energy corrected by nitrogen balance (AMEn). A completely randomized experimental design in a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement - two feed forms (crumble and micropellet) and three average particle sizes of the corn (380, 606, 806 µm) - was applied. Three hundred and sixty 1-d-old B.U.T 9 male turkey poults were distributed into 36 cages, 6 replications of 10 birds, each one per treatment. Overall care of birds complied with welfare directive from the Universidade Federal do Paraná. Feed form did not affect the coefficient of total intestinal tract apparent digestibility of DM, N or crude fat (CF); however, an increase in corn particle size improved the coefficient of total intestinal tract apparent digestibility of DM, N and CF. AME and AMEn were not affected by treatments. Feed form does not affect nutrient digestibility on young turkeys and grinding corn at an average particle size bigger than 380 µm improves nutrient digestibility.