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.

Objetivou-se, nesta pesquisa, estudar o efeito dos níveis de energia metabolizável (EM) da dieta sobre o desempenho e o metabolismo energético de frangos de corte machos na fase de crescimento (22 a 43 dias de idade) em condições de temperatura ambiente. Foram utilizadas 288 aves distribuídas aleatoriamente por três níveis de energia da dieta (3.050, 3.200 e 3.350 kcal/kg) e três níveis de alimentação (ad libitum, 75 e 50% do ad libitum), com quatro repetições de oito aves, para determinação das exigências de mantença e das eficiências energéticas. Foi utilizado o método do abate comparativo, sendo que 12 aves foram abatidas no início do ensaio experimental, para determinação da composição corporal inicial, e 144 aves foram usadas para determinação da energia metabolizável das dietas experimentais. Os níveis de energia influenciaram na ingestão de energia metabolizável (IEM) e, conseqüentemente, a retenção de energia na carcaça (ER) e a produção de calor (PC). As exigências de energia metabolizável de mantença (EMm) determinadas foram 131,12; 140,96 e 131,78 kcal/kg0,75/dia para os níveis de energia alto, médio e baixo, respectivamente. O nível de energia mais alto (3.350 kcal/kg) na dieta dos frangos de corte proporcionou melhores resultados de desempenho, enquanto o médio (3.200 kcal/kg), melhor equilíbrio na eficiência de utilização de energia para deposição de proteína e gordura, conseqüentemente, melhor qualidade da carcaça, em decorrência da menor deposição de gordura.

The objective of this work was to study the effect of dietary ME levels on the performance and the energy metabolism of male broilers on growing phase, from 22 to 43 days old. Two hundred and eighty-eight broilers were ramdomly assigned to three energy levels (3,050; 3,200 and 3,350 kcal/kg) and three feeding levels (ad libitum, 75% and 50% ad libitum), with four replicates of eight birds, to determine the energy maintenance requirements and the energy efficiency utilization. The method used was the comparative slaughter. Twelve birds were sacrificed in the beginning of trial to determine the initial body composition and 144 birds were used to determine the AMEn of diets according to ME levels and feeding levels. The dietary ME levels affected the ME intake and consequently in retained body energy (RE) and heat production (HP). The maintenance metabolizable energy requirements were: 131, 141 and 132 kcal/kg of W0.75/day for 3,350; 3,200 and 3,050 ME/kg, respectively. The highest ME level promoted better performance of the birds, however, the medium ME level provide better values of efficiency for protein deposition and for fat deposition, consequently, lower body fat composition, showing better carcass quality.