This study aimed at evaluating the replacement of inorganic copper, manganese, and zinc sources by organic sources in the diet of laying hens during the second laying cycle in trace mineral excretion, egg production, and eggshell quality. Two hundred and fifty 100-week-old Dekalb hens were distributed according to a completely randomized design into five treatments with five replicates of ten birds each. The control treatment consisted of a basal diet with all trace minerals in the inorganic form. The other treatments consisted of a basal diet with a mixture of the minerals copper, manganese, and zinc in the organic form with concentrations of 100%, 90%, 80%, and 70% of the levels of inclusion of inorganic mineral sources in the control treatment. Trace mineral excretion was determined in five layers per treatment by the method of total excreta collection. Excreta trace mineral contents were determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Egg production and eggshell quality were determined by the mass of the eggs and the egg specific gravity, respectively. For all trace minerals examined, the dietary supplementation with organic sources reduced trace mineral excretion compared with the control group, even at 70% inclusion level, without compromising egg production or eggshell quality. The replacement of the inorganic trace mineral sources by organics source effectively reduced the excretion of copper, manganese, and zinc by laying hens in the second laying cycle.

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of maltodextrin on performance of chicks passed through four fasting periods. A completely randomized design was performed, consisting of three treatments (1 -control, 2 -4% saccharose; 3-4% maltodextrin 20) and four fasting periods after hatching (0, 12, 24 and 36 hours) with four replications, totaling 1920 birds of both sexes. The studied variables were: water intake in the first 12 hours, average food intake, average body weight and real feed conversion. Data was submitted to analysis of variance and means were compared with each other by Dunnett test at 5% significance. The use of additives and imposing of different fasting periods did not influence the performance at 42 days old. Therefore, fasted chicks consumed significantly more water. At 7 days old, chicks fasted showed higher body weight and higher feed intake, however, the viability did not suffer any influence, the weight remained higher after 21days with the fast imposition and there was no influence on other variables. There was no effect of fasting on broiler chiken's performance at 42 days old. The inclusion of sucrose and maltodextrin to drinking water stimulated the chick´s water intake and provided higher viability after seven days old.