The body weight of broiler breeders must be rigorously controled during the growing and production periods in order to get on adequate development, and consequently to show his maximum potential of production. An experiment was conducted at the Poultry Section of the Animal Science Department of the Federal University of Santa Maria/RS, to evaluate the effect of different feeding programs during the growing period on the productive performance of broiler breeder hens. A completely randomized experimental desing of 3 treatments with 4 replicates of 67 birds each was used. In the first 2 weeks birds were fed ad libitum, and in the next 2 weeks they were feed controled daily. From 5 to 20 weeks of age they were submitted to the following treatments: T1: 5 to 14 weeks = "Skip-a-Day", 15 to 17 = "Skip 1 out of 2"; and 18 to 20 = daily controled feed; T2: 5 to 8 weeks = "Skip-a-Day", 9 to 16 = 48-57-63 hours between feedings and 17 to 20 = "Skip 1 day out of 2"; T3 = 5 tp 20 weeks = 48-57-63 hours between feeding. The results show that increasing the time between feeding (48-57-63 hours) during the growing period does not influence negatively the productive performance of the birds, and this method of feeding can be used for growing broiler breeders, with an extra advantage, because the birds do not need to be fed during the weekends, reducing the costs of hand work.
Broiler breeder; feed restriction; feeding time
