Effects of enriched housing design on broiler performance, welfare, chicken meat composition and serum cholesterol
2009
Simsek, U.G.,Firat Univ., Elazig (Turkey). Dept. of Animal Science | Dalkilic, B.,Firat Univ., Elazig (Turkey). Dept. of Animal Nutrition | Ciftci, M.,Firat Univ., Elazig (Turkey). Dept. of Animal Nutrition | Cerci, I.H.,Firat Univ., Elazig (Turkey). Dept. of Animal Nutrition | Bahsi, M.,Firat Univ., Elazig (Turkey). Dept. of Biology
The present study was performed to determine how the enrichment of housing with perches and sand bedding in addition to wood shavings affects broiler chickens' performance, welfare, meat composition and serum cholesterol concentrations. For this purpose, 480 Ross-308 chicks were assigned to two groups, control and test, each with 4 replications. At the end of the study, 8 males and 8 females whose live weights were close to the group average from each group were slaughtered. Whole carcasses of 4 males and 4 females, and half of the breast and left thigh from the remaining 4 males and 4 females were collected. There was no significant difference between the groups in body weight, daily weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion efficiency and survival. Litter moisture of the sand bedding was lower than that of the wood shavings. Contact dermatitis of hocks was reduced in the test group (P less than 0.05). Length, width, bone mineral content (BMC) and bone mineral density (BMD) of the left tibiotarsus were similar between groups. The protein ratio of thigh meat was higher (P less than 0.01), and fat ratio of the meat was lower (P less than 0.05) in the test group. Enriched housing design increased serum HDL cholesterol level and decreased thigh meat cholesterol level (P less than 0.05). In conclusion, housing enriched with perches and sand bedding improved broiler welfare and meat quality.
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