Estimates of the endogenous and metabolic losses in broiler chickens

Abstract

The objective of this work was to determine the endogenous and metabolic losses with broiler chickens in different ages. One hundred-forty broiler  chickens were allocated in the metabolic cages according to completely randomized design with four treatments and five replications. The treatments consisted of collection of execreta of broiler chickens at 7, 17, 27 and 37 days. The material was collected after 48 h of bird starvation. The dry matter, nitrogen and crude energy, the endogenous and metabolic losses were determined. The endogenous and metabolic losses demonstrated a high negative correlation with age of the bird, resulting in decreasing linear effect. The repetibilidade was observed for the endogenous and metabolic losses of dry matter, nitrogen and fecal and metabolic energy. The equations based on the metabolic weight of the birds presented the best estimates.