Two hundred fifty male chickens, with 22 days old, were used in biological assay based on total excreta collection method. The dry matter apparent metabolizability (DMAM) and metabolizable energy (ME) values of the sorghum grains with different endosperm texture were calculated. The evaluated genotypes were: BR 007B (soft texture), BR 304 (intermediate texture), and SC 283 (hard texture). The test diets were composed by 60% of reference diet (based on corn and soybean meal) and 40% of sorghum grain. A completely random experimental design, with four treatments and five replicates was used. The DMAM values were similar among the sorghum grains (P>0.05), being 77.09%, 81.73% and 79.69% for the hard, intermediate and soft texture grains, respectively. The apparent and true metabolizable energies (AME and TME), and AME and TME corrected for nitrogen retention (AMEn and TMEn) values for the hard, intermediate and soft texture grains were, respectively, 3,022, 3,127, 2,947 and 2,934; 3,335, 3,442, 3,369 and 3,419; 3,339, 3,450, 3,303 and 3,355kcal/kg. The hard texture grains (SC 283) presented smaller values (P<0.05) of ME in relation to intermediate (BR 304) and soft (BR 007B) texture grains. The corrections of the ME values to nitrogen balance resulted in a discrete reduction of the ME values.
Sorghum; endosperm; chicken; digestibility; metabolizable energy
