Effects of Early Skip-a-Day Feed Removal on Broiler Live Performance and Carcass Yield

Responses of two broiler chicken strains to early-age skip-a-day feed restriction in a semi-arid subtropical environment

“…Also, the fact that the birds which were feedrestricted by 8 days, had the worst feed conversion ratio, gained the least weight and were the lightest at 21 days of age suggests that eight days of early feed restriction had a more detrimental effect on the bird than feed restriction for 6 days. The fact that the ALC, R4 and R6 birds did not differ in feed efficiency, supports some earlier reports (Dozier et al, 2002;Khajali et al, 2007) that feed restriction has insignificant effects on feed intake and efficiency but is contrary to other findings that feed restriction improved feed efficiency in feed-restricted than full-fed birds (Dozier et al, 2003;Navidshad et al, 2006). The poorer feed utilization of birds on the R8 treatment than those on the R4 and R6 treatments is also at odds with an earlier report by Mahmood et al (2005) that the longer the period of restriction the better the efficiency of feed restriction.…”

“…This suggests that skip-a-day feed removal for 4 or 6 days during the starter period was not as harmful to the birds as feed removal for 8 days. Dozier et al (2002Dozier et al ( , 2003 and Khajali et al (2007) stated that broiler chickens are able to compensate for loss of weight resulting from short periods of feed restriction at early age but complete growth compensation becomes unlikely as the period of under-nutrition increases. These authors reported that 2, 3 or 4 days of skip-a-day feed removal was not very harmful and therefore the birds were able to regain the weight losses incurred during the restriction period and attain the same market weights as their ad libitum controls; however, 5 or 6 days feed removal was too long and did allow the birds enough time to recover from the weights lost during the restricted-feeding period.…”

“…During the period of feed restriction, growth is slower in the feed-restricted birds than in birds fed ad libitum but reports on compensatory growth, mortality rate, feed efficiency and abdominal fat deposition have been conflicting (Dozier et al, 2002(Dozier et al, , 2003Khajali et al, 2007;Mohebodini et al, 2009). However, these have been influenced by several factors including the severity and duration of restriction as well as strain of birds used (Summers and Spratt, 2000;Doyle and Leeson, 2003).…”

The effect of limiting feeding time by three and six hours per day during the starter period on broiler performance

“…The insignificant differences in overall performance between the control and fasted birds follow the findings of De Silva and Kalubowila (2012) who found no significant differences in feed intake between control and 3 h restricted birds. The results of the overall performance also agree with the findings of Urdaneta-Ricon and Lesson (2002), Dozier et al (2002Dozier et al ( , 2003, and Khajali et al (2007) who stated that broiler chickens are able to compensate for loss of weight resulting from short periods of feed restriction at early age, and do not follow the findings of De Silva and Kalubowila (2012) who found significant reduction in body weight at 42 days old after 3 h fasting per day from 21 to 42 days old. The in significant differences in overall performance between the control and fasted birds is supported by the findings of Navidshad et al (2006), Mohebodini et al (2009) and Benyi et al (2011).…”

“…The results of feed intake in this study do not agree with Novel et al (2009) and Boostani et al (2010) who reported reduced feed intake of restricted birds. The insignificant differences in feed conversion ratio of control, 3 and 6 h restricted group follow the findings of Dozier et al (2002) and Khajali et al (2007). This result in feed conversion ratio due to feed restriction does not agree with the findings of Lee and Leeson (2001), Dozier et al (2003), Navidshad et al (2006), and Mahmood et al (2007).…”