Performance and Carcass Composition of Broilers Fed Different Carbohydrate and Protein Sources in the Prestarter Phase

Chicken growth rate has increased substantially in the past decades, causing slaughter weight to be attained sooner and increasing the representativeness of the first days of life. Prestarter diets are presently used in a variety of situations in poultry production and are interpreted as investment, not a cost in production. Studies to define the nutrient requirements in the prestarter period are seconded by the necessity to search for ingredients with high nutrient availability that will result in improved animal performance associated with good carcass quality. Alternative ingredients with excellent digestibility must be used in diets for newly hatched chicks, because their digestive system is not completely adapted to the digestion and absorption of feeds. This research evaluated the effects of alternative carbohydrate and protein sources in prestarter broiler chicken diets on the performance, digestive organ morphometry, and carcass composition and yield. The effects of different carbohydrate and protein sources found at the prestarter phase were not maintained in subsequent phases.