ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of supra-nutritional level of selected B vitamins in different types of diet on broiler performance. Two experiments were conducted using male and female one-day-old chicks (n=288 each; initial body weights in experiment I and II was, respectively, 47.57 ± 0.43, and 47.98 ± 0.31) reared in batteries up to 18 days. In experiment I, the chicks were fed a corn and soybean meal-based diet and, in experiment II, a diet containing oxidized animal by-product meals and soybean oil was used. Both experiments followed a completely randomized design in a 3 × 2 factorial arrangement, consisting of the factors: i) supplementation levels of selected B vitamins (control, 3- or 6-times control of the vitamins riboflavin, pantothenic acid, niacin, folic acid and vitamin B12); ii) dietary nutritional density (low or high), totaling 6 treatments and 8 replicates of 6 birds each (3 males and 3 females). As result of this study, in Exp. I, chicks showed higher weight gain (741.1 g vs. 697.3 g) and feed intake (920.2 vs. 878.5 g) when fed low-nutritional density diet with supra-nutritional vitamin level 6-times higher than the control. However, this effect was not found in the performance of chickens fed high-nutritional density diet. Despite the poor quality of the ingredients used in Exp. II, no statistical effect was shown of the use of vitamin super-dose in rations with different dietary nutrient density. Feed conversion ratio (FCR) was significantly improved for chickens fed high-nutritional density diet (1.191 vs. 1.246 in experiment I, 1.244 vs. 1.275 in experiment II, p<0.01). We conclude that birds fed a vegetable diet formulated with low-dietary density improved body weight (BW) and feed intake (FI) when receiving supra-nutritional levels of vitamins 6-times higher than the control.

ABSTRACT Corn is the main energy feed used in broiler chickens rations in most countries. In the literature, there are indications that high density corn segregated in densimetric table contains higher value of metabolizable energy than the corresponding fraction of low density, but the reasons are not clear. This study was conducted to determine the metabolizable energy of different types of corn, segregated in densimetric table, for poultry. The corn types were selected by the texture of grain (flint, semi-dent and dent) and were planted in the same area. Semi-dent grain corn was used as standard, and the flint and dent grains were segregated in a densimetric table to separate 25% of the total as high density and 25% as low density. The flint, semi-dent and dent corn and the high and low density fractions of flint and dent corn were used in a metabolism assay with broiler chickens from 20 to 29 days of age, with 9 replicates, to determine the Nitrogen-corrected apparent metabolizable energy (MEn). The density of the different types of corn, measured as hectoliter weight, varied from 683 to 768 g/L for dent corn and from 778 to 802 g/L for the flint corn; the density of the unsegregated semi-dent corn was intermediate. MEn ranged from 3.109 to 3.194 kcal/g for dent corn and from 3.141 to 3.211 kcal/g for flint corn. MEn of the high density dent corn, 3.194 kcal/g, was higher (p<0.05) than that of the low density fraction, 3.109 kcal/g. Segregation of flint corn did not result in fractions with contrasting MEn values. For dent corn, segregation in densimetric table was effective, resulting in a fraction with improved MEn for chickens.

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of dietary nutrient levels on performance, carcass yield, commercial cuts, digestibility and economical viability of broilers from 1 to 42 days of age. During the experiment, 180 COBB 500™ chicks were housed in metal batteries and subjected to a completely randomized design in a 2x3 factorial arrangement, of two sexes and three diets (male, female and mixed), totaling 6 treatments and 6 repetitions of 5 birds each. Data were subjected to statistical analysis and the means were compared using the Tukey test, at 5% probability. The results indicate the effect of sex on performance and commercial cuts, except for breast and thigh fillets, in which males and females showed similar results when given the mixed diet. The influence of the nutritional levels on performance, digestibility and commercial cuts was observed, in which the female diet showed the highest results for feed intake, body weight and weight gain, in addition to greater retention of protein and crude energy. For drumstick and abdominal fat yield, the highest values were obtained using the mixed diet and the female diet, and the lowest values were obtained using the male diet. Regarding economic viability, the female diet showed the highest return per unit of Real (R$) spent on feed. Therefore, these data prove that the female diet had a positive effect when provided to both sexes, and it may be a promising alternative for its application at the production level.