Growing the Ross broiler parent according to the target growth curve ensures that males and females achieve optimum lifetime performance and well-being. Accurate control of growth will lead to uniformity and sexual maturity, which are of crucial importance for the production of hygienic, healthy, and fertile eggs of high quality. This study examined the growth of Ross 308 broiler breeder flocks from hatch to 35 wk of age to identify which growth model would describe the growth of these animals most accurately. Growth was measured and modeled using linear and nonlinear functions, and the experimental growth curves were compared with target curves from the Parent Stock Management Manual for Ross 308 (Aviagen). Broiler breeder flock R6 (in-season from February until October) and flock R7 (off-season from August until April) were kept in an environmentally controlled breeder house from hatch until 35 wk of age. Three nonlinear growth functions (logistic, Gompertz, and Richards) and 3 polynomial functions (linear, second-order, and third-order) were applied. Parameters of the models were estimated by the least squares procedure. The fit of growth curves to experimental data was assessed using R(2). A t-test was used to identify significant differences in the goodness of fit of the model to the different data sets (breeder manual, R6, and R7). The third-order polynomial gave the best fit to the Ross 308 parent broiler BW data, with R(2) ranging from 0.992 to 0.998. Among the nonlinear growth functions, the Richards model gave the best fit to the data, with R(2) ranging from 0.992 to 0.995. The advantage of second- and higher-order polynomial models is that they can be linearized and their parameters estimated by linear regression.

Macro‐ and microelements in the samples of virgin and cold pressed pumpkin seed oils produced in Croatia through two consecutive crop seasons were determined by inductively coupled plasma–optical emission spectroscopy (ICP‐OES). Croatian oils were also compared to oils from Slovenia and Austria in order to assess differences in the element content. Magnesium, potassium, calcium, sodium, selenium, and iron were the dominant elements in all pumpkin seed oils. Their amounts together with barium, strontium, manganese, copper were up to ninefold higher ( p ≤ 0.05) in virgin compared to cold pressed pumpkin seed oils. These differences occur due to the different processing conditions which include salt addition, heat treatment, and higher degree of equipment ware out during virgin pumpkin seed oil production. As the sodium level increases with the addition of salt, virgin pumpkin seed oil could be considered its hidden source and producers should pay attention to the amount added. Contents of cobalt, copper, selenium, and thallium significantly differed ( p ≤ 0.05) between the two crop seasons. Principal component analysis revealed clear differences between samples with different origin that can be explained by the specifics in the production processes of each country. In comparison with Austrian and Slovenian, Croatian pumpkin seed oils had significantly lower contents of sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and tin while bismuth and selenium were higher.