Digestibility of Diets Containing Cara Flour (Dioscorea trifida L.) For Laying Hens

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the apparent digestibility of nutrients and metabolizable energy of diets containing cara flour using commercial laying hens. A total of 72 birds were used as Hissex White lineage at 23 weeks of age with water and food ad libitum. The birds were distributed in a completely randomized design, where the treatments consisted in two levels of inclusion of cara flour (Dioscorea trifida L.) in diets (control-0% and experimental treatment-25%, respectively) and six replicates of six birds each. The digestibility of dietary nutrients was determined using the method of total collection of excrements. Data collected were subjected to analysis of variance and means compared by Tukey test at 5% probability. Significant differences were found in reply to treatments (p<0.05) for the coefficients of digestibility of dry matter, nitrogen free extract, ether extract and metabolizable energy, being the best results obtained in the experimental diets containing 25% of cara flour in its composition. The inclusion of 25% cara flour in diets for laying hens positively affected the apparent digestibility of nutrients, obtaining better results in th e apparent digestibility coefficients and involving mainly on changes in energy metabolism of feed, causing apparent improvement in nutrient passage rate.