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- Boyner, Malin
(författare)
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A flying start : Adapted hatching and post-hatch feeding in broiler chickens
- 2023
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Conventional hatching practices do not involve provision of feed and water to broiler chickens before placement at the rearing farm. This can pose problems, especially for early hatchlings, which remain feed-restricted for a considerable period due to biological variation in hatch time. The individual requirements of modern fast-growing chickens in order to remain robust and resilient may have changed in recent decades. This thesis studied the effect of hatching time on interval to first feed intake, growth and organ development in chicks hatched on-farm. It also examined the effects of providing hatching chicks with access to feed and water in the hatcher, combined with two different probiotics, on productivity, organ development, immune traits and development of caecal microbiota. Physiological differences between chicks hatched at different times during the hatching window generally levelled out during the production period. Eating-related activities were low immediately post-hatch, and early hatchlings showed compensatory growth as they were lightest at hatch but heaviest at three days of age. Feed deprivation during hatch resulted in depressed feed intake and associated depressed growth, which in some cases was reversed during the growing phase. Supplementation with probiotics had some negative effects on productivity, especially for chicks deprived of feed and water at hatch. There were no long-term differences due to early feeding on microbiota development or immune traits measured. These results suggest that modern broiler chickens are at least partly capable of compensating for setbacks in early life, and that some early effects of feed and water deprivation are transient. However, the studies in this thesis were performed in highly sanitary conditions and at lower stocking densities than in commercial production. Further research is needed to confirm the effects of adapted hatching and post-hatch feeding strategies in conditions that resemble more closely the challenges faced by the modern broiler.
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| 2. |
- Boyner, Malin, et al.
(författare)
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Effect of hatching time on time to first feed intake, organ development, enzymatic activity and growth in broiler chicks hatched on-farm
- 2021
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Ingår i: Animal. - : Elsevier BV. - 1751-7311 .- 1751-732X. ; 15
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The conventional commercial hatcheries used today do not allow the newly hatched chicks to consume feed or water. Combined with natural variation in hatching time, this can lead to early hatched chicks being feed-deprived for up to 72 h before being unloaded at the rearing site. This study investigated the effects of hatching time on time to first feed intake and development of organs, digestive enzymes and productivity in terms of growth and feed conversion ratio in chicks hatched on-farm. Chicks were divided into three hatching groups (early, mid-term and late), and assessed over a full production cyde of 34 days. The results revealed that chicks remain inactive for a considerable amount of time before engaging in eating-related activities. Eating activity of 5% ( i.e. when 5% of birds in each hatching group were eating or standing dose to the feeder) was recorded at an average biological age (BA) of 25.4 h and a proportion of 50% birds with full crop was reached at an average BA of 30.6 h. Considering that the hatching window was 35 h in this study, the average chick probably did not benefit from access to feed and water immediately post-hatch in this case. At hatch, mid-term hatchlings had a heavier small intestine (30.1 g/kg bw) than both early (26.4 g/kg bw) and late (26.0 g/kg bw) hatchlings. Relative length of the small intestine was shorter in late hatchlings (735 cm/kg bw) than in mid-term (849 cm/kg bw) and early (831 cm/kg bw) hatchlings. However, the relative weight of the bursa fabridi was greater in mid-term (130 g/kg bw) than in early hatchlings (1.01 g/kg bw). At hatch, late hatchlings were heavier than early and mid-term hatchlings (P < 0.05), but by 3 days of age early hatchlings were heavier than mid-term and late hatchlings (P < 0.01). The only effect persisting throughout the study was a difference in the relative weight of the small intestine, where late hatchlings had heavier intestines than early hatchlings (P < 0.05). Thus, while there were differences between hatching groups, this study showed that the hatchlings seemed capable of compensating for these as they grew. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of The Animal Consortium.
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