Performance of brown-egg laying pullets fed diets with sunflower meal and enzyme complex

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to evaluate the inclusion of sunflower meal (SM) and the addition of enzymes in the diets of brown-egg laying pullets, in the grower phase (7 to 17 wk of age), as well as their effects on the variables feed intake and conversion, productive performance, sexual maturity, egg quality at the beginning of the laying phase. 480 brown egg laying pullets were assigned in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments, with sunflower meal (12 and 24%) and enzyme complex (with or without) and plus 1 (control) with 6 replications per treatment and 16 pullets per pen for the performance assay. At the end of the grower phase, 330 pullets were transferred to the laying house until 35 wk of age. There was no interaction between the inclusion rate of SM and enzymes, as the diets and enzymes influenced the feed intake and feed conversion ratio separately (P