Berwanger et al., 2014. Semina: Ciências Agrárias (Londrina), 35 (6): 3429-3438

The study aimed to determine the nutritional and energy values of sunflower cake for broilers through two experiments. The first study evaluated the energy values by the method of total excreta collection, using 100 broiler chicks 21-31 days old, divided into five treatments of 0%, 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% inclusion sunflower cake will reference a diet. The second experiment evaluated the influence of the period and the quantity supplied of sunflower cake on digestibility of amino acids by a forced-feeding technique. Eighteen cockerels were used, divided into three treatments, which consisted of supplying 15 g of sunflower cake, 30 g of sunflower cake (15 g at intervals of 12 hours) and 30 g of sunflower cake (15 g at intervals of 24 hours), and an additional six roosters were fasted for correction of metabolic and endogenous losses. The samples were sent for amino acid analysis by HPLC in the Evonik Laboratory (Germany), and chemical and energy analysis to Unioeste Laboratory. The values of apparent metabolizable energy (AME), metabolization coefficient (AMC), apparent metabolizable energy corrected for nitrogen balance (AMEn), metabolization coefficient corrected for nitrogen balance (AMCn) for sunflower cake were 2211.68 kcal.kg^-1, 2150.54 kcal.kg^-1, 45.47% and 44.73%, respectively. The amount of food provided in the feeding method changed the assessment of true digestibility of amino acids (TDCA), and when only 15 g was used, the values of true digestibility coefficients were underestimated. The lysine, histidine and threonine amino acids were at lower TDCA, and arginine and methionine showed the highest TDCA for sunflower cake.