Impacto do acesso tardio ao alimento sobre o desempenho e biometria do trato gastrointestinal de codornas europeias após a eclosão

Abstract

The objective of the present work was to evaluate the effect of late access to food on the performance and biometry of the gastrointestinal tract of European quails after hatching during the production cycle from 1 to 42 days of age. 180 newly hatched quails were used and distributed in a prolonged randomized design with three treatments (immediate access to food; late access post-hatch of 24 hours and late access post-hatch of 48 hours) and five replications with 12 animals per experimental unit. Delayed access to food for a period of 48 hours post-hatch affected body weight, feed consumption and weight gain. Furthermore, it stimulates the reduction of liver and small intestine weight. The 24-hour post-hatch feeding delay only harms the weight of the length of the small intestine. No differences were observed between the experimental treatments, for variations in feed conversion, absolute weight of the proventriculus, gizzard and large intestine. Late access lasting 48 hours post-hatching negatively influenced the productive performance and development of the liver and small intestine of European quails throughout the entire production cycle