Pigmentación de la piel en pollos de engorde con extracto de alfalfa en agua.

Abstract

The objective of this research was to evaluate the influence of alfalfa extract on the pigmentation of broiler chickens' skin in the canton of El Carmen, using 96 Broiler broilers, divided into four treatment groups: a control group and three groups with 5, 10 and 15% of alfalfa extract with six birds per treatment and four replicates. Pigmentation was evaluated using the Roche scale in specific areas such as tarsus, leg and breast. During six weeks of investigation, the weekly weight and feed intake of the chickens were recorded. The results showed that the inclusion of 10% alfalfa extract in the drinking water had a positive effect on weight gain (2.13kg), feed intake (2.83kg), but not on feed conversion (1,43) in Broilers (p>0.05). In addition, there was no effect on the pigmentation of Broiler chickens thighs (p>0.05); but there was an effect on tarsus, with T3 (10% alfalfa extract) having the highest pigmentation (3.50) and breast with 2.75 points in the T4 treatment (15% extract). T3 (10% of alfalfa extract) had the highest Benefit & Cost ratio with 1.15, of the treatments that include this plant, which implies that for each dollar invested, 0.15 profit is obtained; therefore, it was the most profitable from the economic point of view.