Abstract
Housing poultry by using intensive rearing methods often leads to stress, metabolic disorders in its body, and reduced productivity and meat quality. Therefore, along with traditional technologies, free-range technology of housing of meat chickens has recently attracted increasing interest. The purpose of the work was to study the infl uence of various rearing methods on the productivity and meat quality of meat chickens, as well as to provide an experimental justifi cation for rational rearing periods and stocking density of chickens in free-range conditions. The productivity, meat qualities, and meat quality of chickens of the new domestic cross Smena 9 were studied under free-range conditions in comparison with cage and floor poultry rearing methods. The rational rearing period and stocking density of meat chickens using free-range areas, as well as the animal science and economic effi ciency of free-range rearing of meat chickens of the cross Smena 9 were determined. The highest average live weight of the cross Smena 9 chickens was achieved with the free-range technology of rearing at the age of 56 days and amounted to 3960.3 g, which was by 3.02 and 3.36 % higher compared to cage and fl oor keeping of the chickens. Feed costs per 1 kg of live weight gain in chickens reared to the age of 56 days were 9.21 % lower compared to chickens reared to the age of 63 days. When fattening chickens to 56 days, the highest yield of edible parts in the carcass was obtained 82.60 %, including muscles 64.95 % and higher taste qualities of poultry meat. When rearing chickens at a stocking density of 12 and 11 heads/m2, the live weight of the chickens was 5.52 (p ≤ 0.05) and 5.61 % (p ≤ 0.05) higher, compared to chickens reared at a stocking density of 15 heads/m2. According to animal science indicators and economic efficiency, the best chickens were reared at a stocking density of 12 heads/m2, and as a result, the highest productivity index was obtained 359.3 units.
Published Version
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