NIVEIS DE SÓDIO NA RAÇÃO DE FRANGAS DE REPOSIÇÃO DE 12 A 18 SEMANAS DE IDADE

Abstract

The experiment were carried out to determine sodium requirements for egg-white (EW) and egg-brown (EB) strain pullets from 12 to 18 weeks of age. It was used a completely randomized design according to a 6x2 factorial (sodium levels: 0.04; 0.10; 0.16; 0.21; 0.27 and 0.32%; with 2 strains), content five replicates of six pullets per experimental unit. The standard basal diet was formulated to contain 2,900 kcal AMEn/kg and 14.0 % CP. Feed intake, water intake, daily weight gain, feed: gain ratio, rectal temperature, and comb size were evaluated, as well as feces dry matter and humidity. In the experiment, there was no interaction between sodium levels and strains on the studied variables. The sodium levels had significant effects on feed intake, daily weight gain and feed: gain ratio according to the quadratic model and increased water intake and feces humidity linearly, whereas the feces dry matter and rectal temperature decreased linearly. For EW and EB strain, it is recommended 0.18 % sodium or daily intake of 131 and 148 mg of sodium from 12 to 18 weeks of age.