SUMMARY
The objective of this study was to analyze the economical availability of cará flour in diets for laying hens. The experiment lasted 84 days in four periods of 21 days. 144 Hissex White hens with 39 weeks of age were used. Cará flour was used as diets energy source. The experimental design was completely randomized with six treatments of cará flour levels (0, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25%) with four replicates of six birds each. The data were analyzed for polynomial regression at 5% of significance. Significant differences were observed (P>0.05) in the economic analysis of food costs in egg production, revenue analysis and profitability of laying hens, with better results at 5% of cará flour inclusion. Observed too a decrease in profitability from these inclusion levels. From these results, it was concluded that the cará flour can be used as an energy alternative food in diets for commercial laying hens, with the inclusion level of 5% shown better results of economic performance. From 15% of inclusion, observed significant economic losses.
Keywords:
alternative food; cost; gross value added; profitability