Intergenerational effects of maternal growth strategies in broiler breeders

Impact of growth curve and dietary energy-to-protein ratio of broiler breeders on offspring quality and performance

“… Bowling et al (2018) also observed a higher growth, leading to a higher slaughter weight, of offspring from heavier breeders (+15% BW compared to standard), although exact growth and slaughter weight numbers are not reported in this study. In other studies, a 2.5 to 22.5% higher BW of breeders during the rearing and laying phase had no effect on hatchling weight or BW gain of the offspring ( Afrouziyeh et al, 2021 ; Zukiwsky et al, 2021a ). In these studies, however, the authors also did not observe an effect of breeder BW on EW ( Afrouziyeh et al, 2021 ; Zukiwsky et al, 2021b ).…”

“…In other studies, a 2.5 to 22.5% higher BW of breeders during the rearing and laying phase had no effect on hatchling weight or BW gain of the offspring ( Afrouziyeh et al, 2021 ; Zukiwsky et al, 2021a ). In these studies, however, the authors also did not observe an effect of breeder BW on EW ( Afrouziyeh et al, 2021 ; Zukiwsky et al, 2021b ). Discrepancy between these studies and the current study might be due to feeding frequency.…”

“…Discrepancy between these studies and the current study might be due to feeding frequency. In the studies of Afrouziyeh et al (2021) and Zukiwsky et al (2021a , b ) breeders were fed continuously during the day with a precision feeding system, whereas in the current study breeders were fed once a day. It has been shown that continuous feeding, compared to once a day feeding, can induce metabolic changes ( Van der Klein et al, 2018 ; Zuidhof, 2018 ).…”

Is relaxing broiler breeder growth restriction cost-effective?

“…The various levels of maternal prepubertal BW gain and maternal pubertal growth inflection points were explained in the previous (broiler breeder trial) section. The detailed broiler experimental protocol was published previously ( Afrouziyeh et al, 2021a ). Briefly, a total of 124 chicks, with an average of 12 chicks per maternal treatment, were placed in 4 controlled pens and individually fed commercial wheat-corn soybean-based diets via PF stations, following growth stages until 35 d. Individual bird BW and feed intake were recorded by the PF system similar to the parent stock.…”

Architecture of broiler breeder energy partitioning models

“…The experiment was conducted as a randomized controlled trial with Ross 708 broiler breeder pullets (n = 40) reared on one of ten target growth trajectories. The growth trajectories were designed with 2 levels of the amount of cumulative BW gain in prepubertal growth phase and 5 levels of timing of growth around puberty ( Afrouziyeh et al., 2021a ). A 3-phase Gompertz growth model was fitted to the Ross 708 female broiler breeder recommended target BW to estimate the model coefficients.…”