ABSTRACT. An experiment was carried out to evaluate the requirement of digestible methionine for growing pullets at growth phase (7 to 12 weeks of age). A completely randomized design was distributed in five treatments, six replicates, and 15 pullets per experimental unit. 450 Dekalb White pullets from the 7th weeks of age, with an average initial weight of 313.14 ± 12.49 g were used. Dietary treatments consisted in five diets supplemented with DL-Methionine which resulted in five levels of digestible methionine (0.266, 0.294, 0.322, 0.350, and 0.378 %). Performance, serological blood, histopathology and histomorphometry data were evaluated. Quadratic responses were observed for final live weight (p < 0.0143), weight gain (p < 0.0073), feed conversion ratio (p < 0.0058), glycogen deposition in the liver (p < 0.0001), gamma-glutamyl transferase enzyme activity (p < 0.0008), and villus height (p < 0.0024) with digestible dMet levels. In conclusion, the use of 0.343 % dMet, corresponding to a dMet:dLys ratio 55, is recommended for white-egg pullets from 7 to 12 weeks of age.

Avaliou-se a viabilidade de incubadoras artificiais em relação a uma incubadora comercial de ovos. Aquelas foram construídas utilizando estruturas de madeira cobertas com isopor ou embalagens laminadas. O controlo da temperatura foi realizado por lâmpadas e a umidade mantida por canaletas contendo água. Foram adquiridos 720 ovos de aves de linhagem caipira, pesados e distribuídos em um delineamento inteiramente casualizado, com três tratamentos e três repetições, contendo 80 ovos cada. Avaliou-se a eclodibilidade total e fértil, mortalidade embrionária inicial e total, perda de peso do ovo e peso do pintainho ao nascer. As incubadoras foram construídas a um custo aproximado de US$ 80,00, enquanto o custo das incubadoras comerciais é de aproximadamente US$ 500,00.As médias foram comparadas pelo teste Tukey a 5% de probabilidade. Não houve diferença entre os tratamentos para as variáveis em estudo. As incubadoras avaliadas são viáveis para a incubação de ovos férteis de aves caipiras.

The viability of egg incubators was evaluated compared with a commercial incubator. Those were built using a wood structure covered with Styrofoam or milk cartons. Temperature was controlled with 40W lights and humidity was controlled by water reservoirs. Seven hundred and twenty eggs from a caipira strain were individually weighed and distributed according to a completely randomized design into three treatments and three repetitions, with eighty eggs each. Total and fertile hatchability, initial and total embryonic mortality, egg weight loss and chick weight at hatch were evaluated. Each incubator was built at a cost of approximately US$ 80.00 and the cost of commercial incubator was US$ 500.00.Means were compared by Tukey’s test at 5% probability. There were no differences between treatments in both trials. It was concluded that the low-cost incubators are viable and efficient and can be used to incubate eggs of a slow growth strain of birds.

The objective of this study was to determine the chlorine nutritional requirement of Japanese Quails during the laying phase, based on performance and egg quality parameters. A total of 240 Japanese quails were distributed according to a randomized block design, with five treatments and six replicates, with 8 birds each. The experiment lasted 84 days, divided in four cycles of 21 days each. Treatments consisted of a basal diet formulated to meet the nutritional requirements, except for chlorine, and four supplementation levels with ammonium chloride, generating the levels 0.8; 1.6; 2.4; 3.2 and 4.0 g/kg. The parameters evaluated were: feed intake (g/bird/day), egg production (egg/bird/day), egg weight (g), egg mass (g), egg mass conversion (g/g), conversion per dozen eggs (kg/dz), weight of yolk (g/100 g of egg), albumen (g/100g of egg) and shell (g/100 g of egg), specific gravity (g/cm³) and shell thickness (mm). As a result of this study, feed intake, egg weight, weights of albumen, yolk, shell and specific gravity were not affected by treatments. There was a quadratic behavior for egg production, egg mass, egg mass conversion, conversion per dozen eggs and shell thickness according to the chlorine levels in the diets, with the requirements for those parameters established at 1.54; 1.37; 1.39 and 2.78 g/kg, respectively. The recommendation is 1.39 g/kg of chlorine and 244.22 mEq/kg of electrolyte balance in diets for Japanese quails.