Better, welfare friendly ways to grow broilers more efficiently, economically and sustainably using precision, controlled feeding systems: a review

Abstract

Abstract New systems have been developed over the last three decades, which differ from conventional broiler feeding systems in two ways: (1) the composition of the feed varies daily by blending standard broiler feeds with whole wheat at each chicken house, and (2) the normal 24-h day is divided equally into typically four mini days, each with a light period and a dark period (totalling 6 h), enabling all birds to fill their crops multiple times within each 24 h period. The new systems were evaluated in three phases. In Phase 1 in the1980s, collaboration with an English university made it possible to feed broilers a different diet each day under commercial conditions. In Phase 2, in 1998, work at the Silsoe Research Institute, Bedford UK, developed a control system enabling broilers to be grown along predetermined growth curves. In the 2010s, Phase 3 achieved these growth curves by varying the frequency of meal-time feeding. Following each phase, field trials in the UK showed that the new system decreased mortality by over 20%, increased live weight per bird by 55 g and improved feed conversion efficiency by 0.053. Under controlled conditions these new systems were compared with the conventional system of feeding broilers ad libitum, initially in the UK on commercial farms, and proved superior to conventional systems in terms of standard quantitative performance parameters, leading to better quality litter, cleaner birds, and lower incidence of lameness and metabolic disorders including ascites and the sudden death syndrome. Similar benefits were confirmed from the Phase 3 system with broiler integrators in Australia, South Africa, China, Japan and in several countries in America and Europe.