The Effect of Early Feeding and Transporting Time from Hatcher to Farm On the Productive Performance and Carcass Traits of Broiler Chickens.

Abstract

New researches suggest that an early feeding approach has a long-term influence on chick growth performance and nutrient metabolism. The present study was designed to determine the effect of early feeding and the time of chickens transferring from the hatchery to the field on broiler chickens' productive performance and carcass traits. Two hundred twenty-five chickens, one-day-old of broiler chickens Ross 308 with a mean live body weight of 45 g, were used and were randomly distributed to five treatments by 45 chickens per treatment with three replicates (15 chickens per replicate). The experimental treatments were as follows: T1 (control treatment) - the chickens were transferred 24 hours after hatching to the field without feeding, and in groups T2 to T5, the chickens were fed immediately and transferred to the field 24, 6,12,18 hours after hatching, respectively. The current results showed no significant (P>0.05) effects of the experimental treatments on final body live weight, weight gain, feed intake, and feed conversion ratio. In addition, the treatments' insignificant (P>0.05) effects on the weights of the carcass, abdominal fat, breast, thigh, back, wing, neck, heart, liver, and gizzard were found. It can be concluded that there was no evidence of a positive effect of early feeding and transporting duration after hatching on productive performance and carcass characteristics of broilers.