Thermal processing of corn and physical form of broiler diets.

Abstract This study aimed to assess the effect of preprocessing of corn and of physical form of diets on growth performance, carcass yield, and nutrient digestibility in broilers and also the influence of corn processing on pellet quality. A total of 1,080 male Cobb chicks from 1 to 35 D were evaluated. Birds were distributed according to a completely randomized design in a 3 × 2 factorial arrangement, with 3 types of corn processing (unprocessed, pelleted, or expanded), and 2 diet physical forms (mash or pelleted), totaling 6 treatments and 9 replicates with 20 birds. The data were submitted to ANOVA, and means were compared by Tukey's test (P   0.05). The use of expanded corn in the diets before pelleting resulted in higher pellet durability index and lower amount of fines (P   0.05). Broilers fed diets with unprocessed corn had higher FI when compared to those fed diets with expanded or pelleted corn (P