Firewood Ash as Calcium Source in the Initial Diet of Broiler Chickens

ABSTRACT This experiment aimed to evaluate the utilization of firewood ash as calcium source in the initial diet of broiler chickens. One hundred and twenty eight broiler chickens of Cobb-500® strain, from 1 to 21 days of age, were randomly distributed in four treatments with four repetitions of eight birds each, been four female and four male. The experimental diets were corn-soybean based, been isoenergetic and isonutrients, and had 0, 0.32, 0.98 and 1.27% of firewood ash as calcium source. The firewood ash utilized had 23.8% of calcium, 0.39% of total phosphorus, and 0.11% of sodium. The experimental treatments did not influence the feed intake, body weight, body weight gain, and food conversion from 1 to 7, 1 to 14, and 1 to 21 days of age. The tibia and femur thickness and length at 21 days of age were not altered by treatments. It was concluded that the firewood ash can be used as calcium sourcereplacing limestone in the initial diet of broiler chickens, without change the performance and the bone development.