IN-VITRO DIGESTIBILITY OF THE CAGED LAYIN G HEN MANURE AT DIFFERENT STOCKING TIMES

In order to determine the in vitro digestibility of the dry matter, cr ude protein and gross energy of caged laying hen manure, an experiment was conducted at the Faculdade de Ciencias Agrarias e Veterinarias, c ampus de Jaboticabal, using completely randomized design with four tre atments and six replications. The treatments T1, T2, T3 and T4 consist ed of manure stocked for 0, 7, 14 and 21-days, respectively. The in vi tro digestibility mean values for T1, T2, T3 and T4 were, respectively , 49.25; 51.43; 49.60 and 46.27% for the dry matter, 60.20; 66.90; 59. 40 and 49.21% for the crude protein and 57.30; 63.71; 61.17 and 54.50% for the gross energy. The digestibility regression equations for the dry matter, crude protein and gross energy were, respectively: Y = 49. 37 + 0.44X - 0.028X2; Y - 60.77 + 1.23X - 0.086X2 and Y = 57.54 + 1.24 X - 0.066X2 were Y = digestibility coefficients and X = stocking times .