Effect of a diet free of antibiotics, coccidiostats and synthetic amino acids in Cobb 500 sexed chickens

Abstract

This research was carried out in the experimental area of the Santa Inés Farm belonging to the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences of the Technical University of Machala-Ecuador, with the purpose of evaluating the effect of a diet without antibiotics, coccidiostats and synthetic amino acids, administered to sexed Cobb 500 chickens on the productive parameters: live weight, water and accumulated feed consumption, feed conversion, mortality, ante-mortem weight, carcass weight andcarcass yield percentage. A DCA was used, in which only one factor to manipulate was used, the balance, separating males from females, from a sample of 100 birds, applying one replicate per sex, resulting in 4 experimental units (cages), with 25 sample units (chickens) per replicate, the cages were distributed with a number 1 and 4 (females), 2 and 3 (males), whose data were processed weekly. For the statistical analysis, the Statgraphics Centurión XV.I.® program was used, applying an ANOVA and to establish the differences between means, the Bonferroni multiple comparison procedure was used with a 95.0% confidence level. The results show that the males from the 2nd week onwards present the best weights, as well as the best carcass weight, while in the percentage of carcass yield and drinking water consumption, the females stand out, especially in the last days of the experiment. Showing a marked effect in some variables, when the sexes were subjected to a special diet.