scholarly journals Genetic parameters for body weight and different definitions of residual feed intake in broiler chickens

2019 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wossenie Mebratie ◽  
Per Madsen ◽  
Rachel Hawken ◽  
Hélène Romé ◽  
Danye Marois ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The objectives of this study were to (1) simultaneously estimate genetic parameters for BW, feed intake (FI), and body weight gain (Gain) during a FI test in broiler chickens using multi-trait Bayesian analysis; (2) derive phenotypic and genetic residual feed intake (RFI) and estimate genetic parameters of the resulting traits; and (3) compute a Bayesian measure of direct and correlated superiority of a group selected on phenotypic or genetic residual feed intake. A total of 56,649 male and female broiler chickens were measured at one of two ages ($${\text{t}}$$ t or $${\text{t}} - 6$$ t - 6 days). BW, FI, and Gain of males and females at the two ages were considered as separate traits, resulting in a 12-trait model. Phenotypic RFI ($${\text{RFI}}_{\text{P}}$$ RFI P ) and genetic RFI ($${\text{RFI}}_{\text{G}}$$ RFI G ) were estimated from a conditional distribution of FI given BW and Gain using partial phenotypic and partial genetic regression coefficients, respectively. Results Posterior means of heritability for BW, FI and Gain were moderately high and estimates were significantly different between males and females at the same age for all traits. In addition, the genetic correlations between male and female traits at the same age were significantly different from 1, which suggests a sex-by-genotype interaction. Genetic correlations between $${\text{RFI}}_{\text{P}}$$ RFI P and $${\text{RFI}}_{\text{G }}$$ RFI G were significantly different from 1 at an older age but not at a younger age. Conclusions The results of the multivariate Bayesian analyses in this study showed that genetic evaluation for production and feed efficiency traits should take sex and age differences into account to increase accuracy of selection and genetic gain. Moreover, for communicating with stakeholders, it is easier to explain results from selection on $${\text{RFI}}_{\text{G}}$$ RFI G than selection on $${\text{RFI}}_{\text{P}}$$ RFI P , since $${\text{RFI}}_{\text{G}}$$ RFI G is genetically independent of production traits and it explains the efficiency of birds in nutrient utilization independently of energy requirements for production and maintenance.

2020 ◽  
Vol 98 (Supplement_4) ◽  
pp. 347-347
Author(s):  
Pourya Davoudi ◽  
Duy Ngoc Do ◽  
Guoyu Hu ◽  
Siavash Salek Ardestani ◽  
Younes Miar

Abstract Feed cost is the major input cost in the mink industry and thus improvement of feed efficiency through selection for high feed efficient mink is necessary for the mink farmers. The objective of this study was to estimate the heritability, phenotypic and genetic correlations for different feed efficiency measures, including final body weight (FBW), daily feed intake (DFI), average daily gain (ADG), feed conversion ratio (FCR) and residual feed intake (RFI). For this purpose, 1,088 American mink from the Canadian Center for Fur Animal Research at Dalhousie Faculty of Agriculture were recorded for daily feed intake and body weight from August 1 to November 14 in 2018 and 2019. The univariate models were used to test the significance of sex, birth year and color as fixed effects, and dam as a random effect. Genetic parameters were estimated via bivariate models using ASReml-R version 4. Estimates of heritabilities (±SE) were 0.41±0.10, 0.37±0.11, 0.33±0.14, 0.24±0.09 and 0.22±0.09 for FBW, DFI, ADG, FCR and RFI, respectively. The genetic correlation (±SE) was moderate to high between FCR and RFI (0.68±0.15) and between FCR and ADG (-0.86±0.06). In addition, RFI had low non-significant (P > 0.05) genetic correlations with ADG (0.04 ± 0.26) and BW (0.16 ± 0.24) but significant (P < 0.05) high genetic correlation with DFI (0.74 ± 0.11) indicating that selection for lower RFI will reduce feed intake without adverse effects on the animal size and growth rate. The results suggested that RFI can be implemented in genetic/genomic selection programs to reduce feed intake in the mink production system.


1997 ◽  
Vol 77 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. O. Fasina ◽  
G. L. Campbell

Whole canola/pea (WCP, 1:1 wt/wt) or whole canola/canola meal (WCC, 3:1 wt/wt) were heat-processed using a commercial pellet mill prior to incorporation in broiler starter (0–20 d) and finisher diets (20–40 d). The pelleted blends readily disintegrated in the preparation of the mash diets. Body weight gain of broilers (0–40 d) fed WCP (0, 10, 20, or 30%) or WCC (0, 5, 10, or 15%) declined linearly with level of dietary inclusion (P < 0.01). Feed intake declined curvilinearly (P < 0.01) with both blends, with lower intake most apparent at the higher inclusion levels. Feed/gain increased for broilers fed WCP or WCC (P < 0.01). Overall broiler mortality declined incrementally with inclusion of WCP (P < 0.07) or WCC (P < 0.03) in the diet. Although there was no distinct limitation on the dietary inclusion levels of either blend, the low feed intake with broilers fed 15% WCC indicated that its level should not exceed 10% of the diet. Key words: Canola seed, canola meal, peas, broiler chickens


Author(s):  
T. E. Lawal ◽  
F. A. Aderemi ◽  
O. M. Alabi ◽  
O. A. Oguntunji ◽  
M. O. Ayoola ◽  
...  

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of Fusarium oxysporum degraded Brewer dried grain (BDG) on the performance and nutrient utilization ofbroiler chicken at starter and finisher phases. Undegraded and degraded (BDG) werewas used to compound rations for broiler birds for 8 weeks. The undegraded BDG was used at 7% inclusion level and the degraded BDG was used at 3, 5, and 7%. A total of 150 day old chicks were randomly selected and allocated for 5 treatments. Thirty 30 birds were allocated to each treatment with three replicates each. Fusarium oxysporum was inoculated into BDG through Solid State Fermentation for a period of 7 days. This was used as degraded sample. There was improvement in the crude protein, ash, and gross energy after biodegradation. Biodegradation led to reduction in crude fibre, cellulose, hemicellulose, and detergent fibre content. At  starter phase, there were significant (P<0.05) (P=0.05) differences in feed consumption and body weight gain and the highest feed consumption (FC) and body weight gain  (BWG) were found in treatment 5, which contained 7% degraded BDG (DBDG) and the FC and BWG they were 88.93 and 41.07g/bird/day, respectively. At the finisher phase, there were significant (P=0.05) differences in both the average feed intake and the average body weight gain by the birds. The highest feed intake was found in treatment 5 (140 g/b/d) and the highest body weight gain was also observed in treatment 5 (78.21g/b/d). Significant differences (P=0.05) were also observed for the feed conversion ratio at the finisher phase. The best value (1.64) was recorded at the control treatment and this was followed by the value recorded for treatment 5 (1.79). The relative cost benefits revealed that it is profitable to feed broilers with F. oxysporum degraded BDG. The results showed that F. oxysporum was able to enhance the feeding value of BDG and this impacted positively on the feed consumption and body weight gain by the birds.


2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 161-170
Author(s):  
B. C. Anyaegbu ◽  
D. N. Onunkwo ◽  
G. Igwe ◽  
J. Nathaniel ◽  
C. M. Nkwo

This study was carried out to evaluate the growth performance and carcass characteristics of finisher broiler chickens fed diet containing cooked cocoyam tubermeal as energy source in place of maize. The proximate composition of cooked cocoyam tubermeal showed that it contained 13.11% moisture, 2.60% ash, 3.90% crude protein, 9.45% crude fiber, 1.85% ether extract and 70.13% NFE. In the finisher feeding trial, the cooked cocoyam tubermeal was used to replace maize at levels of 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% respectively in the control diet. Each finisher diet was fed to a group of 30 finisher broiler chicken for 4 weeks using completely randomized design. Each treatment was divided into 3 replicates of 10 broiler chicks each. The birds were kept on deep litter and were given feed and water ad-libitum. Parameters measured include ifinal body weight, body weight gain feed intake, feed conversion ratio, carcass characteristics and economics of production. In the finisher feeding trial, the feed intake of the finisher broilers on diets 2, 3 and 4 were similar and compared favourably with those on the control diet. The finisher group on 100% CCYM (diet 5) recorded the lowest feed intake possibly because of the dustiness of the feed. The body weight gain of the finisher broilers on diet 2 (25%) cooked cocoyam tubermeal compared favourably with the control group and was significantly (P<0.05) higher than those on other diets. It appeared that the finisher broilers could not tolerate high levels of cooked cocoyam meal due to dustiness of the feed and its anti-nutritional factors. The cost of production per kg finisher broilers was cheapest for diet 5(100% CCYM) (N356.72) and the costliest was for diet 3(50% CCYM) (N588.28). The internal organs expressed as percent of the live weight were not affected by the treatments. In terms of carcass characteristics, the finisher broilers on diet 2(25% CCYM) recorded the highest breast muscle which was significantly different (P<0.05) from other groups. There were no significant different (P>0.05) on percent back cut, drumstick, head, shank, thigh, neck and wings of the finisher broilers on all the treatments. There were no significant differences (P > 0.05) in percent dressed weight of the finisher broilers on cooked cocoyam based diets. The results of the trial have shown that cooking cocoyam corms (Xanthosoma sagittifolium) for 30 minutes was effective for reducing the cyanide oxalate, tannin, phytic acid and saponin content and that cooking did not affect the proximate composition of tannia. Cooked cocoyam tubermeal could be used to replace maize up to 25% in the diet of finisher broiler chicken without affecting body weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio as indicated in this study.


2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bibek Chandra Roy ◽  
Sachchidananda Das Chowdhury ◽  
SM Lutful Kabir

The effects of feeding probiotic (PB) with or without Lincomycin 2.2% (AGP) were investigated in broiler chickens during summer. Seven hundred Cobb-500 one day old straight run broiler chicks were randomly distributed into four dietary treatments each of five replications. Four diets were compared: control; control diet plus PB (Bacillus subtilis DSM17299) at a level of 50g/100kg; control plus (AGP) at a level of 15g/100kg and control plus a combination of PB and AGP (50gm/100kg and 15g/100kg respectively). Control birds were fed on a corn-soybean based starter mash that contained ME 3000 kcal/kg and CP 24.39% from 0-21 days of age and a corn-soybean based grower mash of ME 3100 kcal/kg and CP 20.43% during 22-35 days of age. The records were kept of feed intake (FI), body weight and mortality while weight gain, feed conversion ratio (FCR) and survivability were calculated. Temperature and humidity were recorded four times daily except during extreme heat stress when measurements were made more frequently. One bird that was close to average of pen weight was taken from each replication at the end of the trial and the birds were sacrificed to determine carcass characteristics. Both performance and carcass yield data were statistically analyzed. Birds that received PB and a combination of PB +AGP treatments showed significant differences (P<0.01) from control with respect to body weight gain and FCR while feeding AGP alone although showed a decrease in feed intake. Abdominal fat was significantly (P<0.01) reduced in PB treated birds. Higher mortality was encountered in control group. Both PB alone and a combination of AGP treatments were able to show improved performance and reduced mortality, feeding PB alone may be practiced on the combined grounds of improved performance, efficiency in combating heat stress and to discourage the use of AGP in broiler diet.Asian J. Med. Biol. Res. June 2015, 1(1): 80-88


2003 ◽  
Vol 2003 ◽  
pp. 180-180
Author(s):  
H. Jahanian Najafabadi ◽  
A. Golian ◽  
F. Eftekhari Shahroudi

One method of reducing feed cost is to restrict the feed in the early life of broilers. In this regard, Fontana et al. (1992) reported that early feed restriction programs in their experiments proportionally reduced the consumption of the starter diets by an average of 22% in restricted broilers when compared with controls. Energy restriction has also been shown to result in a reduction in metabolic energy loss leading to a reduced requirement for maintenance. If during refeeding, this low requirement is maintained and if growth resumed at a normal or above normal rate (compensatory growth), feed efficiency would be substantially improved, leading to an economical advantage. This experiment was conducted to determine the effect of severity of diet dilution (energy and protein) and duration of early feed restriction on feed intake (FI), body weight gain (BWG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) of male broiler chickens.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Yang ◽  
Peirong Xu ◽  
Jie Liu ◽  
Mindie Zhao ◽  
Wei Cong ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Light management plays an important role in broiler growth and behavior. Constant light in early post hatch stage has been a common practice for improving feed intake and body weight gain in broiler chickens, while whether and how constant light in early life affects the behavior in broiler chickens is rarely reported. Results In this study, newly hatched chickens were kept in either constant light (24L:0D, LL) or natural photoperiod (12L:12D, LD) for 7 days and maintained in constant light thereafter from 8 d to 21 d of age. Constant light did not affect chicken body weight, while increased average daily feed intake (ADFI) in 7 d and 21 d and every week feed conversion ratio (FCR). Constant light exposure in early life induces depressive-like behaviors, which was associated with higher corticosterone (CORT), lower melatonin and 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) plasma. Concurrently, constant light exposure increased the mRNA expression of clock related genes and suppressed the expression of antioxidative genes in the hippocampus of both 7- and 21-day-old chickens. Moreover, brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) pathway in hippocampus was suppressed by constant light exposure. Conclusions These findings imply that constant light exposure in early life disrupts hippocampal expression of clock genes and BDNF/ERK pathway, which contributes to depressive-like behaviors in the chicken.


Author(s):  
Jeong-Woo Lee ◽  
Da-Hye Kim ◽  
Yoo Bhin Kim ◽  
Su-Been Jeong ◽  
Sungtaek Oh ◽  
...  

The present study was conducted to evaluate encapsulated essential oils as an alternative anticoccidial in coccidiosis vaccine challenged broiler chickens. A total of 600 day-old male broiler chicks were provided with no-added corn-soybean meal-based control diet or diets that contained either salinomycin or EO at 60 and 120 mg per kg of diet. On day 21, half of the control groups were orally challenged with a coccidiosis vaccine at 25 times higher than the recommended vaccine dose. During 22 to 28 days (i.e., one-week post coccidiosis vaccine challenge), the challenged chickens had decrease (P &lt; 0.05) in body weight gain and feed intake but increase in feed conversion ratio compared with the non-challenged, na&iuml;ve control chickens. However, dietary EO significantly counteracted (P &lt; 0.05) coccidiosis vaccine-induced depression in body weight gain and feed intake. Increasing dietary EO linearly decreased (P &lt; 0.05) the concentrations of the volatile fatty acids. Dietary SAL and EO affected gut morphology in chickens at 20 days posthatch. Increasing dietary EO linearly (P = 0.073) increased serum catalase activity. Collectively, our study shows that dietary EO increased coccidiosis vaccine-induced growth depression and altered gut physiology in broiler chickens.


2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 181-187
Author(s):  
A. H. Dikko ◽  
D. N. Tsado ◽  
T. Z. Adama

Low protein intake and rapid human population growth in addition constitute a major problem facing developing countries. To solve this problem of lack of adequate intake of animal products and to increase the output by majority of Nigerians, there is the need to improve poultry and poultry products production by putting a lot of effort in the production of highly reproductive animals becomes very important. The aim of this work is to compare the performance of four breeds of broiler chickens fed a popular commercial Diet in Kuta. One hundred and twenty, day-old chicks of different breeds, and thirty each (Arbor acre, Marshal, Anak, Cobb) were selected and randomly allotted to four treatments with three replicates each in a completely randomized experimental design. Result from the experiment revealed that there was no significance (P< 0.05) difference among the treatments in terms of water intake, feed intake body weight gain and feed conversion efficiency. Anak and Cobb breeds has the highest numerical values for the most of the performance indices measured such as average weekly feed intake (1425.60g, 1272.60g), total feed intake (4714.3g, 4509.8g), average weekly water intake (4046.40ml, 4317.00ml), total water intake (12698.7ml, 14527.6ml), average weekly body weight gain (298.51g, 348.13g), and feed conversion ratio (4.87, 3.67). This research show that the Cobb breed have superior performance compare to other breeds on the same feed and under same environmental condition in Kuta. This implies that the production of the four mentioned breeds can perform in Kuta but the feed is more favourable to Cobb breed.


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