SUMMARY
It was investigated the way to provide NaCl -by water or feed- on performance, water intake, organs development, dry matter metabolizability (DMM), nitrogen retention (NR), apparent metabolizable energy corrected for nitrogen (AMEn), dry matter of excreta (DMEx) and carcass composition (CC) of broilers. One hundred twenty one-day-old male Ross 308 distributed in three treatments with four replications of ten birds each, in a completely randomized design, were subjected to three ways to supply NaCl (0.47% of Na): 100% in diet, 50% in diet and 50% in water (50:50), and 100% in water during the pre-starter period (one to seven days). During the starter period (eight to 21 days) the birds received a unique diet, with NaCl in diet. From one to seven days, there were no significant differences on water intake, feed intake and weight gain; but NaCl in water provided better feed conversion than in both ways (p < 0.07). At 21 d, there were no significant differences in performance, relative weight of heart, liver and gizzard, and relative length of intestine. There was no response to supply way for AMEn and DMEx in chicks from four to seven days; however, birds receiving NaCl via drinking water, exhibited lesser DMM and NR (P < 0.05) in the same period. It was concluded that NaCl can be added in both feed and water to pre-starter chicks.
consumption; relative length; relative weight