EFEITO DA FORMA FÍSICA E DA RESTRIÇÃO ALIMENTAR SOBRE O DESEMPENHO DE POEDEIRAS LEVES

The experiment aimed at testing the effects of feed physicalform (mash vs. pelleted) and feed allowance (ad libitum vs. 10%restriction) in 160 H & N laying hens. Four treatments wereapplied, with 20 replications of two 26-44-week-old birds each ina completely randomized design, in a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement.Feed intake (FI), body weight gain (BWG), feed conversion (FC),egg production (EP), egg weight (EW) and egg specific gravity(EG) were evaluated. The mash diet provided greater FI in thetotal period (P<0.0001), whereas pelleted diet showed greater FIonly after 42 weeks of age, indicating that birds need to adapt tothe new physical form of diet. Egg production, EW, FC, and EGwere not different for the two physical forms in the total period.BWG tended to be greater throughout the experiment period forbirds eating pelleted diet. Ninety percent of feed restriction fromad libitum intake showed the worst results for all studied variablesand none of the physical forms was able to compensate the negativeeffects of restriction.