Production parameters evaluation and pigmentation of poultry fed with squash flour (cucurbita moschata)

Abstract

On the farms you can get different products from small farming system that can contribute to the economy of the poultyman farmer, for example, the squash (Cucurbita moschata). With the squash flour was evaluated pigmentation of skin and productive parameters in broilers. With the inclusion of 0, 7,5 and 15 percent in diets. A design completely at random (DCA) was used with four repetitions and four animals per experimental unit. The analysis of variety did not show statistic differences (p≤0,05) for the feed intake in the two phases, either in weight gain and feed conversion in the ending phase; there were showed meaningful statistic differences for weight gain and feed conversion in the starter phase and the pigmentation in the final phase, the skin pigmentation of animals fed with squash flour was intense yellow according to the variety of colors DMS compared to those fed with the witness treatment. The inclusion of squash flour in diets for feeding broiler chicken bigger than 7,5% y less than 15%, is considered as a no conventional raw material that helps to the pigmentation of the skin, without affecting productive parameters in the ending phase and it becomes in an alternative for the productive systems of the small producers generating a value added in terms of skin pigmentation.