ABSTRACT - This experiment was conducted to evaluate the use of low nutritional quality corn grain, infested with insects or fungi on the performance of broilers in starter diets. A total of 400 not sexed Ross chicks was allotted to a completely randomized design with five treatments and four replicates, according to the corn grain quality used in starter diets (1 to 28 days). The non infested corn was used in the control diet, and substituted by levels of 20 or 40% of grains infested by insects, and by 20 or 40% of molded grains. Weight gain, feed intake and feed: gain ratio from of 1 to 28 and 29 to 49 days periods and in the total period were not affected by the treatments. The organ weights: body weight ratios were crescent for liver and bursa of Fabricius, as the infested corn grain levels by insect or fungi increase, mainly for the molded corn grains. In the necropsy done at the 29 and 59 days of broiler age, there was an increase on the frequency of leg problems and hepatic lesions in the treatments containing corn grain infested by insects or molded in its composition. The substituition levels (20 or 40%) of infestation by insects or fungi used did not interfere with the broiler performance, however it could contribute to the increase of the incidence of metabolic problems, hazards that did not reflect in the broiler performance, but it increased the carcass condemnations.
performance; broilers; molds; insects; corn; starter diet
