Feeding management is estremely important for broiler breeders, mainly during the rearing period, when the birds develop their corporal structure. The production performance of the hens depends on the conditions they were grown. An experiment was done at the Poultry Section of the Animal Science Department of the Federal University of Santa Maria, to study the of feeding programs on the body weight gain, uniformity of weight and viability of broiler breeders. A completely randomized designe with 3 treatments and 4 replicates of 67 birds was used. In the fírst 2 weeks of age they were all feed ad libitum, and in the 2 subsequent weeks feed was controled daily. From 5 to 20 weeks they were submitted to the following feeding treatments: T1: 5-14 weeks = "Skip-a-Day", 15-17 = "Skip on day out of two and 18-20 = controled daily; T2: 5-8 weeks = "Skip-a-Day", 9-16 = 48-57-63 hours of feeding intervals and 17-20 = ''Skip one day out of two"; T3 = 5-20 " 48-57-63 hours intervals between feeding. The results show that the feeding program of 48-57-63 hours interval between feeding during the rearing period can be used with no negative effects on the parameters studied, and with the advantage ofno need of feeding during the weekend, saving handwork costs.
Broiler breeders; feeding programs; body weight; uniformity; livability
