ABSTRACT This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between the steadiness of broilers during the stance phase of locomotion, and the primary disorders of the locomotor system and gait. The experimental design was completely randomized, in a factorial arrangement (2 × 2 + 32), indicating two sexes and two genetic commercial strains, with five replications of 53 broilers each, and 32 (16 males and 16 females) indigenous chickens. Gait score and valgus and varus condition were assessed. Pictures of the birds were taken and evaluated. The broiler body was considered a spherical shape, and the centroid was calculated. From the geometric center of the body, a line was drawn perpendicularly to the sphere radius that formed an angle (ANG) with the other vertical line drawn from the centroid to the ground. The angle projected onto the ground was analyzed, and the body steadiness (EC) was estimated. At the 42nd day of growth, broilers were weighed to assess the body weight, the breast weight after slaughter, and the percentage of the breast (PB). Femoral degeneration, tibial dyschondroplasia, spondylolisthesis, and footpad dermatitis were evaluated. Fast-growing broilers presented a high prevalence of locomotor issues. The PB was not affected by sex or genetic strain. Males showed better ANG than the females, regardless of the genetic strain. More balanced EC was found in commercial broilers when compared with the indigenous chicken that stood slightly towards the back during the stance phase. A medium (in males) to high (in females) association between EC and ANG was found amongst broilers from the commercial strains in both males and females. The broilers from commercial strains presented more locomotor issues than the indigenous chicken. Commercial broiler strains show less locomotor soundness than indigenous chickens.

RESUMO Dois experimentos foram conduzidos para investigar como o peso corporal de codornas japonesa ao final do período de recria pode alterar os parâmetros de desempenho durante a fase de postura. Nos dois experimentos as aves foram distribuídas em cinco tratamentos em função do peso corporal, estes foram obtidos aos 42 e aos 35 dias de idade, para o primeiro e segundo experimento respectivamente. Para ambos os experimentos foram consideradas as classes: muito leves, leves, peso médio, pesadas e muito pesadas. Os tratamentos foram distribuídos em delineamento em blocos ao acaso, com oito repetições por tratamento para o primeiro experimento e seis repetições por tratamento para o segundo experimento, ambos com 18 aves por repetição. No primeiro experimento, foram avaliados a maturidade sexual, a porcentagem de postura, a porcentagem de ovos comercializados, o peso médio dos ovos e massa de ovos. No segundo experimento foram avaliados o consumo de ração, o peso corporal final, os ovos por ave presente, a porcentagem de postura, o peso médio dos ovos, massa de ovos e a conversão alimentar. Os resultados mostram que codornas com peso corporal inferior a 140 gramas aos 42 dias de vida, ou inferior a 120 gramas aos 35 dias de vida, pioram significativamente os resultados produtivos durante o período de postura.

ABSTRACT Two experiments were conducted at different times with the objective of investigating how the body weight of Japanese quails at the end of the rearing period may alter the performance during the laying phase. In both experiments, the birds were distributed in five treatments according to their body weights, which were obtained at 42 and 35 days of age for the first and second experiments respectively, and the following categories were considered for said experiments: very light, light, average, heavy and very heavy. For both experiments, the treatments were distributed in a randomized block design, at eight repetitions per treatment for the first one and six for the second one, both at 18 birds per repetition. During the first experiment, sexual maturity, laying percentage, marketable egg percentage, average egg weight and egg mass, in second experiment, feed consumption, final body weight, eggs per bird present, laying percentage, average egg weight, egg mass and alimentary conversion were evaluated. The results obtained show that Japanese quails whose body weight is lower than 140 grams at 42 days of age, or lower than 120 grams at 35 days of age show significantly worse productive results during the laying phase.

RESUMO Com o objetivo de avaliar níveis de isoleucina em rações para codornas japonesas em postura, foram utilizadas 648 codornas, distribuídas em delineamento em blocos ao acaso com seis tratamentos e seis repetições de 18 aves cada. Os tratamentos consistiram de ração basal com 16% de PB correspondente em nível de isoleucina de 0,672% e suplementada com isoleucina, em substituição ao ácido glutâmico, correspondendo aos níveis de isoleucina de 0,816; 0,960; 1,104; 1,248%. As dietas experimentais foram comparadas a uma dieta controle contendo 20% PB. Foram estudados o desempenho, a qualidade do ovo, os sólidos totais dos ovos e nitrogênio nas excretas das aves. Observou-se aumento linear apenas para consumo de isoleucina com elevação dos níveis de isoleucina das dietas. Pela comparação das médias de cada combinação de níveis de isoleucina para dietas com 16% PB com o tratamento controle 20% PB, verificou-se que o consumo de PB, consumo de isoleucina, peso do ovo, excreção de nitrogênio e cor da gema foram significativamente influenciados. Para codornas japonesas submetidas a dietas com 16% de PB, o nível de isoleucina de 0,672%, atende as exigências para obtenção de resultados satisfatórios de desempenho e qualidade de ovos e proporcionou uma redução na excreção de nitrogênio.

ABSTRACT. Aiming to assess isoleucine levels in low protein diets for laying Japanese quails, 648 quails of 182 days of age were distributed in experimental block design with six treatments and six replicates of 18 birds each. Treatments consisted of a basal level corresponding to 0.672% isoleucine and supplemented with isoleucine to the levels of 0.816, 0.960; 1.104; 1.248%. The experimental diets were compared to a control diet containing 20% CP. The parameters studied were: performance, egg quality, total solids and nitrogen in the excreta. There was a linear increase only for isoleucine intake with increasing levels of isoleucine in the diets. The comparison of mean values of each combination of isoleucine levels for diets with 16% CP with the control with 20% CP showed that the intake of CP and isoleucine, egg weight, nitrogen excretion and yolk color were significantly affected. For Japanese quail fed diets with 16% CP, with isoleucine level at 0.672%, meets the requirements for obtaining satisfactory performance and egg quality and promoted a reduction in nitrogen excretion.

O objetivo foi avaliar como os fatores granulometria e textura do milho podem alterar os parâmetros de desempenho produtivo de poedeiras comerciais, bem como o consumo de energia elétrica para moagem dos grãos. Foram utilizadas 384 poedeiras da linhagem Isa Brown com 36 semanas de idade, alojadas em aviário de produção convencional com taxa de lotação de 562,5 cm2 ave-1. Os tratamentos foram distribuídos em delineamento inteiramente ao acaso em esquema fatorial 2 x 3 (texturas de milho: duro e dentado e graus de moagem: fino, médio e grosso), com oito repetições de oito aves por parcela. Os dados foram avaliados com o auxílio do pacote estatístico SISVAR com médias comparadas pelo teste de Tukey a 5% de probabilidade. Foi constatada diferença para o fator textura, em que a textura dura apresentou aumento nas variáveis: consumo de ração e peso dos ovos. As características de qualidade dos ovos demonstraram diferença significativa apenas quanto à cor da gema. Maiores granulometrias consumiram menos energia elétrica durante a moagem. A cultivar de milho duro teve consumo de energia elétrica 31,66% menor comparativamente à cultivar dentado.

The influence of maize corn size and texture on the performance parameters of laying hens and power consumption required for grinding maize corn were evaluated. The experiment was carried out on 384 Isa Brown hens, 36 weeks old, penned in a conventional aviary with 562.5 cm2 bird-1 stocking rate. The treatments were distributed in a completely randomized 2 x 3 factorial design (maize textures: flint and dent; and milling degree: fine, medium and coarse) with eight replicates of eight birds per plot. Data were evaluated with SISVAR and means were compared by Tukey's test at 5% probability. Difference was reported for the variable texture and flint increased the variables feed intake and egg weight. Significant difference in the characteristics of egg quality occurred only for the colorof the yolk. Larger corn sizes consumed less electricity during grinding. The maize flint cultivar had a lower 31.7% power consumption when compared to that of the dent cultivar.

An experiment employing three hundred and twenty 81-week-old Lohmann LSL commercial-breed hens was conducted to compare alternative induced-molting methods with the conventional method (fasting). Induced molting lasted 28 days at most, production and quality being monitored for four periods of 28 days thereafter. A completely randomized experimental design with five treatments, eight replicates of eight birds each per plot was adopted. The following experimental treatments were applied until a loss of 26% of body weight was reached: T1 - fasting, T2 - wheat bran ad libitum, T3 - rice bran ad libitum, T4 - cracked rice ad libitum, T5 - ground alfalfa ad libitum. Birds were then fed production diet ad libitum, except for those on treatment T1 (fasting) which received 30, 60 and 100 g/bird/day and then feed ad libitum. During induced molting the birds were exposed to a natural photoperiod and at day 28 that period was increased by 30 minutes/week until reaching 16 hours of light/day. The characteristics evaluated during induced molting were: feed intake, body weight changes and laying percentage. In the post-molt period, performance (feed intake, laying percentage, egg weight, egg mass, feed conversion ratio per dozen and per egg mass and percentage of broken eggs) and egg quality (specific gravity, eggshell breaking strength, percentages of eggshell, yolk, and albumen, eggshell thickness, yolk color and Haugh unit) were evaluated. Every 28 days one egg was collected from each repetition for three consecutive days for quality assessment. The use of rice bran and wheat bran is viable as molting inducers since the birds given those treatments display performance and egg quality similar to those fasted during the induced molting and also because these ingredients promote easier handling, eliminates the need for grinding and feed-mixing equipment and, being less aggressive, provide greater bird welfare.

With the objective to establish the best metabolizable energy (ME) intake for layers, and the best dietary vegetable oil addition level to optimize egg production, an experiment was carried out with 432 30-week-old Hisex Brown layers. Birds were distributed into nine treatments with six replicates of eight birds each according to a 3 × 3 factorial arrangement, consisting of three daily metabolizable energy intake (280, 300 or 320 kcal/bird/day) and three oil levels (0.00; 0.75 and 1.50 g/bird/day). Daily feed intake was limited to 115, 110 and 105 g/bird in order to obtain the desired energy and oil intake in each treatment. The following parameters were evaluated: initial weight, final weight, body weight change, egg production, egg mass, feed conversion ratio per dozen eggs and per egg mass and energy conversion. There was no influence of the treatments on egg production (%) or egg mass (g/bird/day). Final weight and body weight change were significantly affected by increasing energy intake. Feed conversion ratio per egg mass, feed conversion ratio per dozen eggs and energy conversion significantly worsened as a function of the increase in daily energy intake. An energy intake of 280 kcal/bird/day with no addition of dietary oil does not affect layer performance.

O presente estudo teve por objetivo avaliar o efeito da utilização de níveis crescentes do gluconato de sódio sobre o desempenho, o rendimento de carcaça e de partes e a morfometria da mucosa intestinal de frangos de corte de 22 a 42 dias de idade. Foram utilizados 1200 frangos de corte da linhagem Cobb, distribuídos em um delineamento inteiramente casualizado, envolvendo cinco tratamentos (0,00; 0,10; 0,20; 0,30 e 0,40% de gluconato de sódio) com oito repetições de 30 aves cada parcela. As variáveis foram submetidas à análise de variância e em caso de significância estatística foram realizadas análises de regressão pelos modelos polinomial e quadrático. A inclusão do gluconato de sódio não afetou o desempenho e o rendimento de carcaça e de partes. Entretanto, exerceu efeito benéfico sobre a morfometria da mucosa intestinal do duodeno e do jejuno.

The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the effect of the sodium gluconate addition on performance (feed intake, body weight, weight gain, feed conversion, livability and productive efficiency), carcass characteristics (carcass, breast, thigh and drumstick, wing and back yield), and morphometry of duodenum, jejunal and ileum of broilers from 22 to 42 days of age. A total of 1,200 Cobb male broilers were distributed in a completely randomized design with five treatments (0.00, 0.10, 0.20, 0.30 and 0.40% sodium gluconate), and eight replications of 30 broilers each. The inclusion of sodium gluconate did not affect the broiler performance and carcass characteristics. However, the morphometry of duodenum and jejunal mucosa showed beneficial effects.