Effects of glycerol on the metabolism of broilers fed increasing glycerine levels

• Autor(a) principal: Romano,GG
• Data de Publicação: 2014
• Outros Autores: Menten,JFM, Freitas,LW, Lima,MB, Pereira,R, Zavarize,KC, Dias,CTS
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Brazilian Journal of Poultry Science (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-635X2014000100014
• topic: Alternative feedstuffs; energy source; nutrition; feed

This study evaluated the metabolic response of broilers fed diets containing increasing crude glycerine levels in two bioassays. Birds were house in metabolic cages, and were distributed according to a completely randomized experimental design with five treatments of 4 replicates each (1st assay: 5 birds/ cage; 2nd assay: 1-20 days = 8 birds/ cage, and 21-42 days = 4 birds/cage). Treatments consisted of a control diet based on corn and soybean meal, and four other diets containing 2.5%, 5.0%, 7.5% and 10.0% glycerine derived from biodiesel. In experiment I, there was no effect (p&gt;0.05) of glycerol level on liver weight or blood parameters. Serum blood glycerol levels of the birds fed 10% crude glycerine increased during the first nine days of diet intake (p<0.05). In experiment II, water intake increased (p<0.05) in the birds fed 7.5 and 10.0% crude glycerine at 4 and 8 days of age. Feed intake increased (p<0.05) on days 8 and 12 in birds fed 2.5 and 7.5% glycerine. Fecal moisture increased (p<0.05) in birds fed diets with 5.0, 7.5, and 10.0% crude glycerine on days 16 and 20. Ileal content moisture was not different (p&gt;0.05) among treatments when birds were 42 days old. High dietary glycerine levels may induce metabolic change in broilers, such as increased blood glycerol level, water intake and fecal moisture.