The Comparison of Early Feed Restriction and Meal Feeding on Performance, Carcass Characteristics and Blood Constituents of Broiler Chickens

The present study was conducted to compare the effect of early feed restriction and meal feeding on performance, carcass characteristics and blood constituents of male broilers. Birds fed ad libitum for the 1st week post hatch. Feed restriction schedule was applied from 7-14 or 7-21 days of age. Chickens in treatment 1 fed ad libitum (AL) throughout the experiment. Birds in treatment 2 and 3 were subjected to Quantitative Feed Restriction based on Maintenance (QFRM) or 50% of Growth (QFRG) energy requirements. Birds in treatment 4 and 5 were subjected to quantitative feed restriction based on a meal feed schedule from 7-14 (MF 14) or 7-21 (MF 21) days of age. Five replicate groups of 12 broilers were allocated to each treatment. Results indicated that feed restriction reduced weight gain compared to AL or MF regimes (p<0.05) at the end of experiment. Broilers subjected to feed restriction regimes consumed less feed than either AL or MF (p<0.05). There were no significant differences between MF and AL groups for weight gain and feed intake. At the end of experiment, feed conversion was improved for birds in MF 14. The carcass weight of the control group significantly was higher than feed restricted groups, but was not statistically different from MF groups. Abdominal fat weight was not affected by feeding regimes. Blood constituents, such as triacylglycerol, cholesterol and LDH were affected by feeding regimes (p<0.05). The results of present experiment indicated that quantitative feed restriction from 7-14 days of age resulted to decrease performance and carcass weight in broiler chickens. Meal feeding from 7-14 or 7-21 days of age had no negative effect on the performance and carcass weights of broiler chickens. Lactate dehydrogenase activity was reduced in feed restriction and MF 21 broilers compare to AL broilers.