Table 3.

Influence of broiler age on the retention (% of intake) of dry matter (DM) and nitrogen (N), apparent metabolizable energy (AME; kcal/kg DM basis) and nitrogen-corrected AME (AMEn; kcal/kg DM basis) of wheat grain¹.

Age (wk)	DM retention	N retention	AME	AMEn
1	82.1	57.7	3,566	3,461
2	74.2	28.9	3,272	3,219
3	73.9	41.4	3,255	3,181
4	73.9	37.5	3,265	3,195
5	75.2	39.0	3,301	3,229
6	74.1	32.2	3,272	3,212
SEM2	1.08	1.61	46	45
Orthogonal polynomial contrast, P ≤
Linear	0.001	0.001	0.001	0.004
Quadratic	0.001	0.001	0.001	0.002

¹Each value represents the mean of six replicates. The number of birds per replicate cage were 10 (wk 1) and 8 (wk 2–6).

²Pooled standard error of mean.