Influência do Lithothamnium calcareum e do ambiente na qualidade dos ovos de poedeiras comerciais semipesadas em final de produção.

Abstract

This experiment was conducted to study the influence of Lithothamnium calcareum on the performance of laying hens and egg quality in the end of the first production cycle, created in different environments. A total of 400 birds of Hisex Brown lineage with 75-90 weeks of age were used. The design adopted was completely randomized with a factorial arrangement 2x5, where the factors were two environments (airconditioned and non air-conditioned) and 5 levels of inclusion of Lithothamnium calcareum (Lit) (0, 1, 2, 3 and 4%) to replace of limestone with 5 replicates and eight birds per cage, totaling 50 experimental plots. There was interaction between levels and environments for egg weight variables, feed conversion per egg mass, feed conversion per dozen eggs, weight of albumin and albumin + yolk weight, percentage of cracked eggs. The Lithothamnium inclusion levels had effect on the weight of the yolk, final total protein in the blood, for the variable intake per bird, yolk weight and shell weight, the environment had a significant effect (P <0.05). The other variables egg production, percentage of yolk, glair and eggshell and specific gravity had no effect (P> 0.05). It concluded that the level of inclusion of algae in question as recommended for laying hens diets was 2% under the conditions in which the research was conducted, but an economic analysis to obtain its viability is necessary for use as a source of calcium.