Effect of Feed Restriction on the Behaviour and Welfare of Broiler Chickens

Abstract

Under intensive rearing conditions, the welfare of broiler chickens may be at risk depending on genotype and sex, due to their different growth rates. The practice of quantitative feed restriction may also impact on welfare. This study aimed to evaluate behaviour and corticosterone content in plasma and faeces at different ages using 896 one-day-old chicks housed in 32 pens, allocated to 8 groups, i.e., 2 genotypes (standard vs. high breast yield) × 2 sex × 2 feeding plans (ad libitum vs. restricted, AL vs. FR). The feeding system affected the percentage of standing (9.84% vs. 11.7% in AL vs. FR; p ≤ 0.001), feeding (7.51% vs. 8.17%; p ≤ 0.01) and sitting/lying (67.0% vs. 64.1%; p ≤ 0.001), and the faeces corticosterone content (12.2 vs. 13.6 ng/g in AL vs. FR; p ≤ 0.10). Sex affected the percentage of pecking other chickens, standing and comfort behaviours. Changes in behaviour were recorded between high and standard breast yield genotypes with faeces corticosterone which tended to be higher in the former (p ≤ 0.10). Significant interactions between the main factors and age were observed. Major changes in behaviour were due to feed restriction, which stimulated activity during restriction.

Effect of Feed Restriction on some Behavioral Patterns, Productive, and Reproductive traits in Japanese Quail

“…Behavioral observations showed in Table 3 that the frequency of feeding behavior was higher in feed restricted birds compared to those feed ad-libitum. The differences in feeding behavior could be explained by the sense of hunger and birds tried to eat as much as they can, results were in line with the findings of Trocino et al, (2020) who found that the percentage of feeding behavior was significantly higher in feed restricted broiler chickens compared to birds fed ad libitum. Also, Yan et al, (2021) found that the feeding behavior was more frequent in feed restricted broilers than ad libitum.…”

Environmental Stress in Chickens and the Potential Effectiveness of Dietary Vitamin Supplementation

“…Feed restriction has been previously reported to reduce body weight gain, body weight, feed consumption, and meat quality (Urdaneta-Rincon and Leeson, 2002;Abu-Dieyeh, 2006;Cornejo et al, 2007;Hassanabadi, 2008;Boostani et al, 2010;Azis and Afriani, 2017). The negative effect of feed restriction in chickens might depend on the extent, timing, and intensity (Trocino et al, 2020) (Boostani et al, 2010). Carcass weight, breast weight and yield of broilers were significantly decreased in restricted birds from 7 to 21 d of age, which confirm the adverse effects of eary restriction on meat quality (Boostani et al, 2010).…”

“…Hangalapura et al (2005) revealed that severe feed restriction promoted reactive oxygen intermediates and decreased the relative weight of immune organs (spleen and bursa). Other stress behaviors associated with feed restrictions include object pecking, increased sitting, lying, decreased standing and feeding, and increased H/L ratio, which impeded growth rate and immune functions (Sandilands et al, 2005;Bowling et al, 2018;Trocino et al, 2020).…”

“…85% quantitative and qualitative feed restriction exerted beneficial effects on some cytokines in broiler chickens (Jang et al, 2009). Feed restriction has also been used to improve feed efficiency, manipulate growth performance in chickens and reduced metabolic diseases such as ascites (Özkan et al, 2006;Trocino et al, 2020).…”

Feed Restriction Induced Changes in Behavior, Corticosterone, and Microbial Programming in Slow- and Fast-Growing Chicken Breeds

“…Quantitative feed restriction may inflict chronic hunger, frustration and stress due to inadequate feeding [ 41 ]. The level of corticosterone can be regarded as one of the physiological stress parameters in feed restriction [ 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 ]. Thus, the corticosterone concentration is collected to assess the stress-related response to feed restriction [ 48 ].…”