AVALIAÇÃO DE FONTES DE CÁLCIO PARA FRANGOS DE CORTE

Abstract

This work had as objective to evaluate the effect of different calcium sources in the diet of broiler chickens with 1 to 28 days of age, on the food intake, live weight gain, feed conversion, level of ashes and calcium in the tibia bone, longitudinal and transversal length of the tibia bone and retention calcium. The experiment had duration of 31 days being used 576 chicks of one day of age, with the cobb line ancestry. It was used entirely randomized design, being the sources consisting of calcium carbonate, calcium carbo quelate and limestone (calcareous rock) of two distinct deposits, A and B, respectively, being all they also evaluated to the granulometer, solubility and pH. The food intake showed significant difference for the calcium sources, however none of the calcium sources influenced the feed conversion, probably to the observed compensatory physiological effect on the live weight gain of the broiler chicks. With regard to the bone mineralization (tibia), it did not have significant influence of the calcium sources, however, with relation to the diameter and length of the tibia bone, the limestones A and B showed the best values when compared with the calcium carboquelate.