title: Effects of broiler breeder management on pullet body weight and carcass uniformity.
abstract: An experiment was conducted to study the effect of broiler breeder feeding management practices on pullet performance, BW uniformity, and carcass traits during rearing (to 22 wk of age). At 3 wk of age, 1,200 Ross 308 breeder pullets were assigned to one of 5 treatments: 1) control: standard mash diet, fed daily; 2) high fiber: mash diet containing 25% lower nutrient density, fed daily; 3) scatter: standard diet in pellet form scattered on litter, fed daily; 4) skip-a-day: standard mash diet, fed on alternate days; or 5) grading: standard mash diet, fed daily (birds sorted into low, average, and high BW groups every 4 wk). Birds on the high fiber treatment consumed more feed (P<0.0001) and had the highest feed conversion ratio (FCR; P<0.004) but the lowest ME to gain and CP to gain ratios (P≤0.002). Skip-a-day treatment pullets consumed more ME and CP than birds in any other treatment (P<0.001). Grading yielded the highest BW uniformity at 22 wk of age (CV=6.2%), while control and high fiber treatment groups were least uniform (CV>15%; P<0.0001). Skip-a-day feed restriction produced birds with the significantly lowest breast muscle and highest liver weight compared to all other treatments (P<0.05). Variation in shank length, chest width, and breast muscle was lowest in the grading treatment, whereas the CV for fat pad and liver was lowest in the skip-a-day treatment. In this trial, broiler breeder target BW profiles were achieved using combinations of quantitative and qualitative feed restriction, or preemptive management practices. Qualitative diet dilution and skip-a-day management did little to increase flock uniformity relative to the control during the most intense period of feed restriction (7 to 19 wk). Scatter feeding increased flock uniformity to a small degree, whereas grading yielded the highest increase in BW and carcass trait uniformity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, 410 Agriculture/Forestry Centre, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 2P5 mzuidhof@ualberta.ca.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Zuidhof
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, 410 Agriculture/Forestry Centre, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 2P5.
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Holm
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, 410 Agriculture/Forestry Centre, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 2P5.
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Renema
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Jordan, Amman 11942.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Jalal
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, 410 Agriculture/Forestry Centre, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 2P5.
authors.forename: F E
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Robinson
mesh_terms: D000821:Animal Feed / Q000032:analysis; D000822:Animal Husbandry / Q000379:methods*; D000824:Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D000818:Animals; D001823:Body Composition; D002645:Chickens / Q000502:physiology*; D004032:Diet / Q000662:veterinary; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female
keywords: feed restriction; flock uniformity; management; pullet program; sorting