Effects of feed form and feed particle size on growth performance, carcass characteristics and digestive tract development of broilers

Animal Nutrition
Mingbin LvZunzhou Lv

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of feed form (mash and crumble-pellet) and feed particle size (fine, medium and coarse) on growth performance, carcass characteristics and digestive tract development of broilers. A total of 1,152 one day-old Ross 308 mixed-sex broilers were used in a factorial arrangement (2 × 3) based on a completely randomized design with six replicates of 32 birds each. Higher average daily gain (ADG) and average daily feed intake (ADFI) were observed (P < 0.01) for birds fed the crumble-pellet diets (CPD) than for those fed the mash diets (MD) during starter, grower and the entire experiment period. From d 1 to 40, birds fed CPD had a higher (P < 0.01) body weight (BW) than those fed MD. Birds fed CPD had a lower (P < 0.01) feed:gain ratio (F:G) during the starter phase than those fed MD. Medium or coarse particle size increased (P < 0.01) ADG and ADFI during the starter phase, but birds fed fine particle size diets had lower (P < 0.01) F:G during the grower phase. In MD, medium and coarse particle sizes resulted in higher (P < 0.05) BW, ADG and ADFI than fine particle size during the whole experiment. In CPD, particle size had no significant effect on growth performance, as indicated by a f...Continue Reading

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