Supplementation of Vitamin D3 and 25-hydroxy-cholecalciferol (25-OHD3) in the diet of broiler and its influence on the quality of meat

• Grant number: 12/11120-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2012
• End date: July 31, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Animal Production
• Principal Investigator: Márcia Regina Fernandes Boaro Martins
• Grantee: Jônatas Garcia Neiro
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia (FMVZ). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil

Abstract

An experiment will be conducted at the experimental FMVZ / UNESP, Botucatu, to evaluate the effect of vitamin D supplementation in the form D3 (cholecalciferol) and 25-hydroxy-cholecalciferol (25-OHD3) in the diet throughout the rearing period on the parameters of meat quality of broilers in order to increase softness. To do so, will be used 750 chicks a day-old Cobb ®, distributed in a completely randomized design with five treatments and five replicates of 30 birds each, totaling 25 plots with population density of 12 birds / m². The control treatment (T1) will follow the recommendations of Rostagno et al. (2011) for vitamin D3, according to each stage of creation for broilers (pre-starter, starter, grower and finisher). From the values recommended, treatments 2 and 3 are made by combining the two sources of vitamin D (D3 and 25-OHD3) and treatments 4 and 5 will constitute only vitamin D3, based on the sum of the quantities of the two sources vitamin in treatments 2 and 3, respectively. At 42 days of age, 75 birds will be slaughtered by following the steps of stunning, bleeding, scalding, evisceration and carcass cooling (chiller). These birds, the breasts will be collected and placed in labeled plastic bags and transported to the laboratory for the analysis of meat quality. At 24 hours post-mortem will be evaluated pH, objective color and loss of exudate. For the analyzes of weight loss during cooking and shear force of the samples will be frozen in freezer at -20 ° C until analyzes. During the breeding period are recorded the weight of the birds, weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion and mortality of the lot in order to obtain the performance of birds. (AU)