Table 2. Effects of dietary metabolizable energy level during the pullets and growing period (3 to 18 weeks of age) on the growth performance of pullets

Parameter	Week	Treatment				SEM	P-value
Parameter	Week	H	Con	L	VL	SEM	P-value
Body weight (g)	3	206.06	206.46	205.97	204.77	0.544	0.174
	6	465.43^a	458.38^a	452.00^a	436.04^b	3.055	<.0001
	13	1,187.57^a	1,157.17^a	1,110.49^b	1,071.85^c	11.540	0.017
	16	1,406.86^a	1,401.62^ab	1,371.21^b	1,335.52^c	10.524	0.001
	18	1,628.51^a	1,625.52^a	1,591.29^b	1,549.67^c	9.753	<.0001
Weight gain (g/bird)	3—6	259.36^a	251.92^ab	246.03^b	231.26^c	3.024	<.0001
	6—13	722.14^a	698.78^a	658.49^b	635.81^b	10.829	<.0001
	13—16	219.29^b	244.45^ab	260.72^a	263.67^a	10.012	<.0001
	16—18	223.90	221.65	220.07	214.14	6.470	0.743
	3—18	1,419.06^a	1,422.44^a	1,385.31^b	1,344.90^c	9.744	<.0001
Feed intake (g/bird)	3—6	614.11	617.07	609.53	613.73	2.271	0.162
	6—13	2,119.42	2,180.65	2,148.20	2,139.96	24.738	0.385
	13—16	1,290.03^c	1,307.20^bc	1,353.20^b	1,581.52^a	16.168	<.0001
	16—18	1,570.83^bc	1,545.28^c	1,602.31^b	1,650.37^a	16.329	0.001
	3—18	5,675.75^c	5,568.83^c	5,713.25^b	5,985.58^a	29.859	<.0001
FCR (feed/gain)	3—6	2.37^c	2.45^b	2.48^b	2.65^a	0.027	<.0001
	6—13	2.95^c	3.12^b	3.26^ab	3.37^a	0.051	<.0001
	13—16	5.98^a	5.36^b	5.24^b	6.03^a	0.202	0.017
	16—18	7.04^b	7.01^b	7.30^ab	7.75^a	0.193	0.043
	3—18	4.00^c	3.92^c	4.13^b	4.45^a	0.0252	<.0001

Means within the same row with different letters are significantly different at P<0.05.