NUTRITIONAL METHODS TO INDUCE MOLTING IN LAYING HENS IN CAGE-FREE SYSTEM

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the productive performance, the efficiency of forced seedlings, and the quality of eggs of Black Avifran laying hens reared in Cage-Free  System using alternative foods as an induced seedling method. The experiment lasted 56 days, divided into two phases. The first stage called the molting phase lasted 14 days, and the next phase was divided into two periods of 21 days post-molting. A total of 144 laying hens were divided into three treatments and six replicates with 8 laying hens each. The experimental treatments were: food restriction (conventional method), total feeding with ground corn and total feeding with dry grains of the distillery with corn soluble (DDGS) for seedling induction. In the seedling phase, the following were evaluated: days to cease posture, food intake, percentage of laying, and weight loss of laying hens. In the post-molting phase, egg quality, egg weight, shell weight, albumen weight, yolk weight, yolk color, yolk percentage, shell and albumen percentage, Haugh Unit, egg production, feed intake, feed conversion by mass and dozen eggs were evaluated. The use of corn and DDGS promoted a significant difference (p<0.05) only for the parameters: food intake, feed intake, and yolk color, which obtained lower values when compared to the conventional method. It is assumed that the consumption time of the ingredients (14 days) was not enough for the laying hens to achieve the expected weight loss of 25%. However, a satisfactory time was obtained to cease the posture. Corn and DDGS can be used as an alternative method to feed restriction for the induced seedling of Black Avifran laying hens reared in the Cage-Free system, as they do not alter the performance and quality of eggs in the post-molting period.