Whole and ground corn in the food of brown laying hens.

Aiming to evaluate the effect of diets containing different particle size of corn on the performance of semi-heavy laying hens during the initial phase production, we used 392 Hy Line Brown birds reared on a bed of wood shavings, which received a balanced diet according with the requirement phase, distributed in four treatments in a completely randomized design with seven replicates. The treatments consisted of diets containing corn with Geometric Mean Diameter (GMD) of 0.66 mm, 1.26 mm, 3.21 mm and whole maize. No significant difference (P>0.05) in egg production (%eggs/hen/day), feed intake (g/bird/day), gravity (g/cm3), weight (g) egg mass (g). However, the diet with whole maize was better (P<0.05) feed conversion (g/g). Corn with different particle sizes can be used in food rations for semi-heavy birds during the laying phase without reducing performance and affect the quality of eggs.