Feeding Time and Body Temperature Interactions in Broiler Breeders

Abstract

Four groups of 70-wk-old broiler breeder females were fed once daily at 0600, 1000, 1400, and 1800 h to determine the effect of feeding time and eating on body temperature. The photoperiod was from 0430 to 1930 h. Four floor pens of 30 hens each were assigned per feeding time. Following a 9-day adjustment period, body temperature was determined, in series, by rectal probe of 5 birds/pen at 7 and 3 h prefeeding and 1, 5, 9, and 13 h postfeeding. Body temperature was increased .5 C at 1 h postfeeding in all groups and at 5 h postfeeding in the 0600-h fed group. The rate of feed consumption was fastest with afternoon feeding. Four 1-yr-old broiler breeder males were implanted with an FM radio transmitter for monitoring body temperature and housed in an environmental control chamber. Body temperature was monitored when the birds were fed at 0600, 1000, 1400, and 1800 h. The chamber temperature cycled from 22.2 to 33.3 C (22.2 C: 2200 to 0800 h; 33.3 C: 1200 to 1600 h; 27.8 C: 0800 to 1200 h and 1600 to 2200 h). Lights were on from 0430 to 1930 h. Body temperature changes were also monitored under constant temperature (27.8 C) and light for birds fed ad libitum or at 1000 h. Body temperature increased as much as 1.5 C following feeding and reached a maximum at 5, 4, 3, and 2 h postfeeding at feeding times of 0600, 1000, 1400, and 1800 h, respectively. Males unable to feed displayed a significantly increased body temperature when they observed other birds eating. A specific body temperature response to feeding activity was observed only when males were fed once daily under constant environment.

Performance of female broiler breeders submitted to different feeding schedules

“…Kohne et al (1973, reported that feeding time should be considered at high environmental temperature due to the caloric increment produced by exothermic reactions of nutritional metabolism. Heat increment was higher 5 h after feeding in birds fed at 6:00 am than in birds fed at 2:00 pm when indoor temperature increased (Wilson et al, 1989).…”

The circadian rhythm of body temperature

“…Because food ingestion is associated with an acute rise in body temperature in various species (197,245,(320)(321)(322), and because animals and humans tend to eat mostly at certain times of the day (323,324), it is conceivable that the CRT could be a mere side-effect of the circadian rhythm of food consumption. That is, in animals fed ad libitum, the concentration of feeding during the light phase or the dark phase of the light-dark cycle could possibly result in the chronic elevation of body temperature that characterizes the CRT.…”

Thermal chronobiology of domestic animals

“…However, there have been several studies conducted under constant light and under relatively stable conditions of ambient temperature and feeding. In chicken kept under constant light, a clear circadian rhythm of body temperature was observed (47,51,52). The closest estimate of the endogenous free-running period (23.5 h) is provided by a study in which roosters were maintained under dim constant light (52).…”