Adélio Nunes Dias

Metabolizable energy and nutrient digestibility of detoxified castor meal and castor cake for poultry

This experiment aimed to determine the metabolizable energy and the digestibility of detoxified castor meal and castor cake nutrients for broilers. A total of 180 Cobb-500TM broilers from 21 to 32 days of age was randomly distributed in three treatments with six replicates of 10 broilers - 5 males and 5 females. The experimental treatments were a reference-diet and two test-diets composed of 80% of reference-diet and 20% of detoxified castor cake or castor meal. The adaptation period ranged from 21 to 27 days of age and the total excreta collection period ranged from 28 to 32 days of age. The detoxified castor meal presented apparent metabolizable energy of 2,032 kcal/kg of natural matter, apparent metabolizable energy corrected for nitrogen balance of 1,829 kcal/kg of natural matter and the digestibility coefficients of 57.8% dry matter, 68.4% crude protein, 10.5% crude fiber, 35.9% nitrogen free extract, 80.0% ether extract and 26.6% ash. In the detoxified castor cake, the apparent metabolizable energy content was 2,550 kcal/kg of natural matter, the nitrogen corrected apparent metabolizable energy balance was of 2,320 kcal/kg of natural matter and the digestibility coefficients of 60.6% for dry matter, 77.2% for crude protein, 14.0% for crude fiber, 45.7% for nitrogen free extract, 85.4% for ether extract and 28.2% for ash. The metabolizable energy and digestibility of nutrients in detoxified castor cake are higher than in the detoxified castor meal.

Classification of coefficients of variation in experiments with commercial layers

This study aimed at determining a specific classification of coefficients of variation in experiments with commercial layers. Coefficients of variation were collected from papers published in Brazilian journals between 2000 and 2009 for performance, internal egg quality, and eggshell quality parameters. The coefficients of variation of each parameter were classified as low, intermediate, high, and very high according to the ratio between the median and the pseudo-sigma. It was concluded that the parameters used in experiments with commercial layers have a specific classification of coefficients of variation, and that this must be considered to evaluate experimental accuracy.

Atributos físicos do solo, adubado com lodo de esgoto e silicato de cálcio e magnésio

Este trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar o efeito da aplicacao de lodo de esgoto e de silicato de calcio e magnesio sobre os atributos fisicos de um Cambissolo Haplico, cultivado com girassol. Os tratamentos foram distribuidos em esquema fatorial (4 x 2) + 1, correspondendo a quatro doses de lodo de esgoto desidratado (0; 6,25; 12,5 e 18,5 t ha-1), duas doses de silicato de calcio e magnesio (0 e 240 g m-1) e um tratamento adicional com adubacao mineral. O delineamento utilizado foi em blocos casualizados, com tres repeticoes. Apos 150 dias da adubacao, coletaram-se amostras de solos, nas camadas de 0-20 e 20-40 cm, para avaliacao da densidade aparente, densidade de particula, porosidade total, grau de dispersao, grau de floculacao, indice de estabilidade de agregados, diâmetro medio ponderado, diâmetro medio geometrico e resistencia do solo a penetracao. O tratamento adicional, correspondente a adubacao mineral, nao diferiu dos tratamentos correspondentes as adubacoes com lodo de esgoto e silicato de calcio e magnesio, em relacao aos atributos fisicos do solo. Para o silicato de calcio e magnesio, tambem nao se constataram diferencas nos atributos fisicos do solo, entre a dose zero e 240 g m-1. Por outro lado, a aplicacao de lodo de esgoto diminuiu o grau de dispersao de argila e aumentou a porosidade total do solo, o grau de floculacao de argilas e o indice de estabilidade de agregados a umido, nao tendo, porem, influenciado os demais atributos fisicos.

Torta de mamona destoxificada para alimentação de poedeiras comerciais

Objetivou-se com este experimento avaliar o efeito da inclusao de torta de mamona destoxificada (TMD) na racao de poedeiras comerciais sobre o desempenho e a qualidade interna e externa dos ovos. Foram utilizadas 200 poedeiras comerciais de 40 a 50 semanas de idade, da linhagem Hy-Line W-36®, com 1543±34g de peso corporal, que foram distribuidas em um delineamento inteiramente casualizado com cinco tratamentos (0, 5, 10, 15 e 20% de torta de mamona destoxificada na racao) com cinco repeticoes de oito aves cada. Foram avaliados o consumo de racao, a producao, o peso e a massa de ovos e a conversao alimentar. A qualidade interna foi avaliada por meio da unidade de Haugh, percentual de albumen e de gema. A qualidade da casca foi medida pela espessura, densidade especifica e percentual de casca. As variaveis de desempenho foram afetadas pela inclusao da TMD com resposta linear negativa para o consumo de racao e quadratica para producao de ovos, peso do ovo, massa do ovo e conversao alimentar, com os melhores niveis de 10,5, 5,7, 9,2 e 10,3% respectivamente. Nao houve efeito significativo da inclusao da TMD para as variaveis de qualidade interna e externa dos ovos. Concluiu-se que a TMD pode ser incluida na racao de poedeiras em ate 5,7% para otimizar o desempenho e nao alterar a qualidade interna e externa dos ovos.

Crude protein and metabolizable energy levels for layers reared in hot climates

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effects of different dietary crude protein (CP) and metabolizable energy (ME) levels on the performance, internal and external egg quality, and cloacal temperature of commercial layers reared in hot climate. In this trial, 100 commercial Hy-Line W-36 layers between 20 and 32 weeks of age were distributed according to a completely randomized experimental design with a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement, consisting of two CP levels (15 e 18%) and two ME contents (2700 and 3100 kcal/kg) with five replicates per treatment and 10 birds per replicate. Performance (feed intake, egg production, egg mass, and feed conversion ratio), internal (Haugh units and albumen and yolk percentage) and external (eggshell % and thickness) egg quality parameters were evaluated. Cloacal temperature was measured in two birds per replicate at 8:00 h and 13:00 h. The diet containing 2700 kcal ME/kg promoted the best performance, whereas the worse performance observed in birds fed the diet with 3100 ME/kg was partially recovered when the diet contained 18% CP. Haugh units worsened as dietary CP level increased. The other external and internal egg quality parameters were not affected by dietary CP or ME levels. The cloacal temperature of birds fed 15% CP was lower in the morning and higher in the afternoon relative to those fed 18% CP, which temperature did not change during the day. It was concluded that dietary CP and ME levels influenced the performance and the body temperature of commercial layers.

The inclusion of coffee in commercial layer diets

This experiment aimed at evaluating the effect of the dietary inclusion of caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee on the performance and internal and external egg quality of commercial layers. One hundred and twenty 25-week-old Hy-line Brown layers, with 1575 ± 91 average body weight, were distributed according to a completely randomized experimental design with three treatments (control, 1.2% caffeinated coffee, or 1.2% decaffeinated coffee) of five replicates of eight birds each. The inclusion of 1.2% caffeinated coffee was calculated to supply 6mg caffeine per kg body weight, which is considered a moderate dose. The applied treatments did not influence (p>0.05) feed intake, egg production, egg weight, egg mass, feed conversion ratio, Haugh units, yolk color or albumen and yolk percentages. The eggs of hens fed 1.2% caffeinated coffee presented lower (p<0.05) eggshell thickness and egg specific density. The eggs of layers fed 1.2% caffeinated coffee tended (p=0.0637) to present lower eggshell percentage. It was concluded that feeding caffeinated coffee to commercial layers does not affect their performance or internal egg quality; however, eggshell quality is impaired.