| dc.description.abstract | A trial was carried out to investigate the effects of both insoluble and soluble grits supplemented to broiler chicken on the growth performance and gizzard stimulation. Particle size distribution of excreta, grit passage, grit disappearance and AME were also examined. 252 day-old male broiler chickens were raised in 4 pens for 5 days and 192 (> 130g) of them were randomly and equally allocated into 48 quail cages (4 birds in each cage) and maintained on a commercial pelleted diet. 48 cages were divided into 4 groups, which were control group, granite group, zeolite group and marble group. Grit stones were given to their respectively treatment group on day 5 (2 g/bird), 7 (3.75 g/bird), 9 (3.75 g/bird) and 18 (1 g/bird), 19 (1 g/bird) and 20 (1 g/bird) on top of the feed. Remaining grit stone residues were removed and recorded on day 13 and day 21. Bird weight and feed consumption were registered at 5, 11, 13, 18 and 21 days of age. Quantitative sampling of excreta was collected from 5-11, 11-13, 13-18 and 18-21 days of age. These samples were frozen immediately for further analysis. One randomly selected bird from each cage was killed and dissected on day 13, 18, 21 and 22. Full and empty gizzard weight was recorded on all dissection days. The crop was collected on day 21 and 22. Both gizzard content and intestines were frozen immediately for further analysis. The findings showed that marble supplementation impaired the feed intake and weight gain of birds, whereas insoluble grits had no effects on the growth performance of birds. The pH and size of gizzard content were not affected by marble supplementation nor insoluble grits supplementation, whereas birds from granite group had significantly (p<0.05) larger values of gizzard content weight, relative gizzard content and empty gizzard weight than birds from marble group on day 13. The particle size distribution of excreta and AME were not affected by insoluble grits nor marble grit. | nb_NO |
