| Popis: |
The objective of this study, performed on 350 four-wk-old heavy-type Hybrid Converter male turkeys, was to assess the effect of increasing dietary levels of whole grain wheat (W) applied at the expense of ground-pelleted wheat (GW) on intestinal development and morphological indices, cecal microbiota, and the growth performance of birds. The basal diet was composed of ground-pelleted wheat and pelleted protein–fat–mineral–vitamin concentrate mixed at the proportion of 50:50 and 60:40 (w/w) in 5–8 and 9–12 wk of feeding, respectively (W0 diet). In the diets denoted as W25, W50, W75 and W100, whole grain was added at the expense of 25, 50, 75 and 100% of the total dietary content of wheat, respectively. In 9–12 wk, daily feed intake tended to decrease with an increase in the W content of diets (linear contrast, P=0.073). Over the entire experiment, an increase in W inclusion levels was followed by a linear decrease in the body weight gains and feed conversion ratio of turkeys (P |
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