DESEMPENHO DE FRANGOS DE CORTE EM RAÇÕES A BASE DE SORGO GRÃO E A INCLUSÃO DE CAROTENOIDES

The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of the inclusion of carotenoids on the growth performance of broiler chickens fed the feed whole grain sorghum based or ground replacing corn. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design consisting of four treatments and six replications and 40 birds by repeating a total of 240 birds per treatment. Treatments were: grain sorghum ground (SM); maize (M); whole grain sorghum (SI) and ground sorghum grain with carotenoids (SMC). The variables analyzed were: feed intake (FI), body weight (BW), actual feed conversion (CAR), and traditional feed conversion (CAT) at 14 e 28 days old. The results were submitted to analysis of variance and F test at a significance level of 5% and the average of the results were compared by the Tukey test, at 5% significance. The treatments evaluated in periods 14 and 28 days of age did not influence the performance parameters of the birds (P> 0.05). The use of whole or ground sorghum, and including carotenoids, improved performance of broiler chickens, compared to corn based ration.