| The experiment was carried out to evaluate the effects of continuous ingestion of pectin on intestinal viscosity, intestinal transit time, excreta moisture content, nutrient digestibility and energy metabolism of broilers at starter and growth phases. We used 240 one-day-old Cobb male broiler chicks, distributed in a completely randomized experimental design. Treatments consisted of four concentrations of pectin (0, 10, 30 and 50 g kg-1) with six replicates of 10 birds each. The ingestion of pectin supplied in the feed by broilers at the starter phase increased intestinal viscosity and intestinal transit time, reduced excreta moisture, improved the use of apparent metabolizable energy, nitrogen-corrected apparent metabolizable energy, coefficient of... |
