ABSTRACT.
This study aimed to evaluate different digestible lysine levels in diets for broilers chickens from different commercial strains, from 49 to 56 days of age, on performance and carcass characteristics. A total of 432 male broilers from 49 days old were used, with an average weight of 3560±250 g. It was used a completely randomized design in a factorial arrangement 3x4, and the birds, from three strains (Cobb 500, Hubbard Flex and Ross 308) were divided into four levels of digestible lysine (0.800, 0.950, 1.100 and 1.250%), with four replicates of 12 birds each. It was evaluated the weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, carcass yield, breast yield, breast meat yield and the yield of the thigh and drumstick. There was no interaction between lysine levels and commercial strains of broiler chickens. The different lysine levels did not influence (p ≥ 0.05) performance and carcass yield. There are significant differences between strains for feed intake and carcass characteristics. The Cobb 500 strain had higher breast yield and breast meat (p < 0.05), while the Hubbard Flex and Ross 308 strains had higher yield of the thigh and drumstick (p < 0.05).
Keywords:
amino acids; breast meat; performance; genotypes; carcass yield
