Effects of low dietary energy, with low and normal protein levels, on broiler performance and production characteristics
Journal Title: Journal of Veterinary Medical Research - Year 2016, Vol 23, Issue 2
Abstract
The study was conducted to investigate the effect of low metabolizable energy diets with normal or narrow metabolizable energy to crude protein ratios (ME:CP) on performance, carcass characteristics, body composition and blood parameters in broilers fed from 1 to 42 days of age. The chicks were divided into 7 groups. The birds were fed starter & grower diets. Seven experimental diets were formulated in each phase; one control and 6 tested diets. The control diet was formulated according to the NRC of poultry (1994) and the other six diets fed three different levels of low energy diets (2900, 2700 & 2500 kcal/kg; one level for each 2 groups). The first three tested groups named ''normal calorie-protein ratio” groups in which the CP decreased in proportion to the decrease in ME, keeping the normal NRC ratio. In the second three tested groups, termed “narrow calorie-protein ratio” groups, the dietary protein was kept at the NRC levels leading to ratios narrower than that of the NRC. Results showed that chicks fed low ME diets with normal energy to protein ratio had lower body weight and feed utilization efficiency than the chicks fed the control diets. While, birds fed the low ME diets with normal protein NRC-levels and narrow ratios had nearly equal weight and feed conversion to the control. The body composition and carcass characteristics were not affected by the dietary treatments. Moreover, the blood parameters had no significant variations among the groups, except for total protein, ALT and AST which had an increased response to decreased dietary energy density. In conclusion, decreasing the dietary ME level without decreasing the crude protein level was more efficient economically and had no any adverse effect on the performance. However, decreasing of dietary ME with normal ME:CP ratio resulted in decreased performance and low economic efficiency.
Authors and Affiliations
Hassan M. Abdel-Hafeez, Elham S. E. Saleh, Samar S. Tawfeek, Ibrahim M. I. Youssef, Manal B. M. Hemida
Fungal pathogens associated with respiratory problems in broiler chickens
Fungal diseases of poultry have become problematic as bacterial and viral diseases. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the prevalence of fungal agents in broiler chickens suffering from respiratory disorde...
A study on the effect of age, breed and season on sexual behaviour, testosterone concentrations and scrotal circumference in Egyptian rams
The objective of this study was to detect the influence of age, breed and season on sexual behaviour, testosterone concentrations and scrotal circumference in Egyptian rams. The study was carried out at agricultural rese...
Efficacy of a novel foot pan in biosecurity protocols for control of salmonellae in poultry farms
This study aimed to replace liquid foot pan in the poultry farm, with a novel model that is used more effectively in biosecurity program convenient with the workers in Egyptian farms that avoid foot pan. This novel model...
Molecular characterization and genotyping of recent isolate of Infectious Bronchitis Virus (IBV) in Egypt
In this study a total number of 22 organ samples (including trachea, lung and kidney) from 22 broiler farms from northern Upper Egypt were collected from Mars 2017 to June 2018 from chickens showing clear clinical and pa...
The influence of meat storage atmosphere on the quality parameters
This study was carried out to assess the effect of storage conditions on the sensory, quality parameters and microbiological status of beef from the muscle “Semitendinosus”. The experiment was design into 4 groups of bee...