ABSTRACT - The objective of this work was to determine the best level of replacement of corn by wheat with 0 and 9% of germinated grains (GG) in broiler chicken diets. A mashed diet (MD) at the initial phase (0 to 21 days), crumbled diets (CD) at the growing phase (21 to 35 days) and pelleted diets (PD) at the final phase, (35 to 42 days) were used. A randomized block design with five treatments and 12 replicates with 26 birds each at the initial phase and 10 treatments and six replicates of 26 birds at the growing and finishing phases, were used. The treatments were: T1 - Corn and soybean meal based diet (DCSM), T2 and T4 - Replacement of 50% of corn in T1 diet by wheat with 0 and 9% of germinated grains (GG), respectively; T3 and T5 - Replacement of 100% of corn in T1 diet by wheat with 0 and 9% GG, respectively. The use of CD diets from days 21-35 and PD from 35 to 42 days of age increased the body weight (BW), weight gain (WG) and feed:gain ratio (F:G). However, feed:gain ratio was better only with CD from 21 to 35 days. The wheat with up to 9,0% GG could completely replace corn in broiler diets, when compared to DCSM. Among the wheat-soybean meal based diets, the wheat with 0% GG resulted on greater BW, WG and FC than wheat with 9% GG.
performance; feed form; broilers; ingredients; wheat
