793
Effects of rearing system and stocking density on growth performance, carcass quality and welfare of male Arbor Acres broilers
This trial was to investigate effects of rearing system and stocking density on growth performance, carcass quality and welfare of broilers. A total of 936 1-day-old male Arbor Acres broilers were randomly allocated to four treatments with 6 replicates by a 2×2 factorial design, including 2 rearing types(wire floor rearing and litter floor rearing) and 2 stocking density(low stocking density of 8 birds/m2 and high stocking density of 18 birds/m2). The results showed that during 0~3 week, high stocking density (HSD) significantly decreased average daily gain (ADG),average daily feed intake (ADFI) and feed/gain (F/G) of broilers than low stocking density(LSD); wire floor rearing (WFR) significantly improved ADG and ADFI than litter floor rearing(LFR). During 4~6 week, LFR significantly decreased ADG (P<0.05), ADFI (P<0.01) and F/G (P<0.01) of broilers than WFR; HSD lowered ADG (P<0.05), increased ADFI and F/G (P<0.01) than LSD. There was no obvious interaction on growth performance of broilers between stocking density (SD) and rearing system (RS) (P>0.05). HSD significantly decreased Eviscerated weight (P<0.01), breast muscle (P<0.01) and thigh muscle weights (P<0.05) of broilers than LSD. There was interrelationship for meat yield between SD and RS (P>0.05), with an exception of eviscerated weight and thigh muscle weight (P<0.05). WFR and LSD groups had higher score of feather damage, pododermatitis and hockburn, lower foot felt temperature (litter or net) and mortality, and higher uniformity than LFR and HSD groups, respectively. In conclusion, LSD-WFR was the most superior in growth performance, carcass quality and welfare of broilers, oppositely HSD-LFR was the most inferior.
Keywords: broiler, rearing system, stocking density
Items |
0~21d |
22~42d |
|||||||
RS |
SD |
ADFI(g/d) |
ADG(g/d) |
FGR |
BW(g) |
ADFI(g/d) |
ADG(g/d) |
FGR |
BW(g) |
WFR |
LSD |
64.07±1.32ab |
44.79±1.60b |
1.43±0.03b |
947±16.66b |
109.80±1.93b |
67.43±1.35b |
1.63±0.01b |
2829±22.51b |
HSD |
57.69±1.86a |
42.70±1.22a |
1.35±0.04a |
897±14.67a |
120.90±3.33c |
64.87±1.64a |
1.87±0.02c |
2721±39.40a |
|
LFR |
LSD |
69.83±1.52b |
47.21±1.51c |
1.48±0.03b |
992±18.71c |
103.20±3.53a |
65.20±1.75a |
1.58±0.01a |
2802±27.24ab |
HSD |
62.56±1.94ab |
46.13±1.70bc |
1.35±0.03a |
969±13.50b |
119.20±2.53c |
64.48±1.38a |
1.85±0.01c |
2779±21.00ab |
|
Main effects |
|||||||||
SD |
LSD |
66.95±1.78a |
46.00±1.37a |
1.45±0.05b |
969±12.20 b |
106.50±2.83a |
66.3±1.50 b |
1.61±0.05a |
2815±26.80a |
HSD |
60.13±1.83b |
44.42±1.47b |
1.35±0.07a |
932±11.71 a |
120.10±3.13b |
64.67±1.38 a |
1.86±0.07b |
2750±22.13b |
|
RS |
WFR |
60.88±1.73a |
43.74±1.51a |
1.39±0.04a |
921±12.16 a |
115.30±3.03b |
66.15±1.52 b |
1.75±0.14b |
2775±24.22 |
LFR |
66.20±1.71b |
46.67±1.56b |
1.42±0.03b |
980±12.52 b |
111.20±3.22a |
64.83±1.41 a |
1.72±0.15a |
2790±21.55 |
|
P-value |
|||||||||
SD |
<0.001 |
<0.001 |
<0.001 |
<0.001 |
<0.001 |
0.019 |
<0.001 |
0.042 |
|
RS |
<0.001 |
0.005 |
0.147 |
<0.001 |
0.007 |
0.045 |
0.002 |
0.574 |
|
SD*RS |
0.543 |
0.260 |
0.254 |
0.082 |
0.066 |
0.136 |
0.050 |
0.160 |
|