Problemas locomotores de frangos de corte alimentados com dois níveis de vitamina D e alojados sobre dois tipos de cama

Abstract

The experiment was carried out with the objective of evaluating bone strength and locomotor problems in broilers, fed with two levels of vitamin D and raised on two types of bedding. A total of 160 one-day-old male broiler chicks of the commercial strain Cobb 500® were used, raised until the seventh day of life, on the eighth day of life, according to the recommendations of the strain, the birds with the average weight of 214.4g ± 27.4g were homogenized and the treatments distributed in a completely randomized design, in a 2x2 factorial arrangement, with two types of bedding (shavings and rice straw) and two levels of vitamin D (100% and 200%) with five replicates of 8 birds per experimental unit. In the experiment, the maximum and minimum metatarsal temperature, length, width, height, strength and bone density of the tibia bones were evaluated at 21 and 42 days of age, in addition to the black bone syndrome and gait score at 42 days of age. Age, there was an interaction between vitamin D levels and different types of bedding for tibial bone length. Bone strength and deformity were influenced by different levels of vitamin D for birds at 21 days of age. There was an interaction between the levels of vitamin D and the different types of bedding for the height and width of the tibia at 42 days of age. The bone strength of the tibia was influenced by different types of litter for birds at 42 days of age. There was no influence for bone deformity. There was an influence for the visual scores of the black bone, as well as for the gait score, between vitamin D levels and different types of litter for broilers at 42 days of age. It is concluded that birds fed with vitamin D levels and housed in different types of litter did not influence the gait score at 42 days of age. The birds that were fed with 200% vitamin D had higher bone strength at 21 days of age, but birds raised on wood shavings had higher bone strength at 42 days of age, regardless of the vitamin D level.