ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to evaluate levels of inclusion of an enzyme complex (EC) in corn- and soybean meal-based diets for laying hens on the digestibility of nutrients and energy. A metabolism trial was conducted using 75 Dekalb Brown laying hens at 26 weeks of age, which were distributed into five treatments with five replicates in a completely randomized design. The ingredients used in the diets received an additional (enriched) 3% methionine, lysine, cysteine, threonine, tryptophan, and metabolizable energy and 33.3% phosphorus. Treatments consisted of diets including 0, 150, 200, 250, or 300 mg.kg‒1 EC. We determined apparent metabolizable energy (AME); nitrogen-corrected AME (AMEn); apparent metabolizability coefficients of dry matter (DMAM), crude protein (CPAM), gross energy (GEAM), and phosphorus (PAM); digestible crude protein (CPD); and intake, retention, and excretion of phosphorus. No effects of EC levels were detected on the metabolizable energy values or digestibility coefficients, except for CPAM, which showed a quadratic response (maximum coefficient at 89.0 mg.kg‒1EC). A quadratic effect was also observed for CPD (minimum at 115 mg.kg‒1 EC), P excretion (maximum at 173.2 mg.kg‒1 EC), and P retention (maximum at 122.4 mg.kg‒1 EC) when EC was used. The use of the EC in corn- and soybean meal-based diets for laying hens improves their ileal digestibility of protein and apparent digestibility of phosphorus. However, EC addition to the diets does not affect AME, AMEn, or their metabolizability coefficients.

This study estimated the genetic diversity and structure of 12 genetic groups (GG) of locally adapted and specialized pigs in the state of Pernambuco using 22 microsatellite markers. Nine locally adapted breeds (Baé, Caruncho, Canastra, Canastrão, Mamelado, Moura, Nilo, Piau and UDB (Undefined Breed)) and 3 specialized breeds (Duroc, Landrace and Large White), totaling 190 animals, were analyzed. The Analysis of Molecular Variance (AMOVA) showed that 3.2% of the total variation was due to differences between genetic groups, and 3.6% to differences between local and commercial pigs. One hundred and ninety eight alleles were identified and apart from the Large White breed, all GG presented Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium deviations for some loci. The total and effective allele means were lower for Duroc (3.65 and 3.01) and higher for UDB (8.89 and 4.53) and Canastra (8.61 and 4.58). Using Nei's standard genetic distance and the UPGMA method, it was possible to observe that the Landrace breed was grouped with the local genetic groups Canastra, Moura, Canastrão, Baé and Caruncho. Due to the complex admixture pattern, the genetic variability of the 12 genetic groups can be analyzed by distributing the individuals into two populations as demonstrated by a Bayesian analysis, corroborating the results from AMOVA, which revealed a low level of genetic differentiation between the inferred populations.