The use of prohibited antibiotics as growth promoters additives caused great impacts on poultry, bringing the need for the development of new additives. The diformiate potassium (DK), a salt of formic acid, is emerging as one of those alternatives. This experiment was conducted to evaluate the action of DK on the performance of broilers. One thousand and eight hundred broilers male of Ross 308 breed, distributed into two trials of 900 birds each, and then randomly separated by five treatments with six replications, in a completely randomized experimental design, The treatments consisted by inclusion of increasing levels of DK to the diets (0, 3, 6, 9 and 12kg DK t-1). In the first trial carried out, the birds were fed with diets containing DK during the period 1 to 42 days. In the second trial, DK received only in the period from 21 to 42 days old. In both, the birds were weighed to housing, at 21 and 42 days and then the data were subjected to a linear regression analysis. In the first experiment, there was no improvement in the performance of birds, and there was a reduction in feed intake. Similarly, in the second trial, the addition of DK reduced linearly the feed intake and weight gain, however, any effect on feed conversion in poultry. It was concluded that high dosis of DK cause acid-base imbalance of diets, with negative effects on the birds performance.
acid-base; electrolyte balance; performance
