Effects of hybrid and dietary mussel meal on broiler performance during 10 weeks of rearing

• Organic broiler production is characterised by a long rearing period (>10 weeks) and diets based on locally available feedstuff. Until recently, conventional fast growing broilers hybrids have been used exclusively in organic broiler production in Sweden. Rearing fast growing hybrids during long periods has resulted in e.g. ascites and leg disorders and the need for alternative slow growing hybrids for these production systems has been outspoken. Moreover, the nutrient composition (especially protein quality) in the organic diets does not meet the high demands of the conventional fast growing hybrid. This study investigated broiler production performance in the fast growing hybrid Ross 308 (R) and the slower growing hybrid Rowan Ranger (RR) fed either a standard organic diet (O, 11.3 MJ ME and 164 g protein/kg feed) or an organic diet with mussel meal as protein source (M, 11.2 MJ ME and 156 g protein/kg feed) during a 10 weeks rearing period. The study included in total 389 birds housed in groups of 20-21 birds per group divided over the treatment combinations; 5 RO, 4 RM, 5 RRO and 4 RRM groups. During the rearing period, 22 birds were culled due to leg weakness and 16 died or were culled due to other reasons. The statistical analyses were performed with linear mixed models in SAS. Preliminary results indicated that R birds grew faster when fed the mussel meal diet while this difference in the response to protein quality was less pronounces in RR birds (4,586a±55.3, 3,961b±49.5, 2,919c±55.3 and 2,891c±49.5 g live weight at 71 d in the RM, RO, RRM and RRO treatment respectively, LSM±SE; different subscript letters indicate pairwise differences of P<0.05). A significantly higher proportion of RM birds were culled due to leg weakness compared to the other treatments (P<0.05). Dressing percentage was higher in R than RR birds (P<0.05), but there were no effect of diet treatment.

Subject headings

LANTBRUKSVETENSKAPER  -- Bioteknologi med applikationer på växter och djur -- Genetik och förädling inom lantbruksvetenskap (hsv//swe)

AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES  -- Agricultural Biotechnology -- Genetics and Breeding in Agricultural Sciences (hsv//eng)

LANTBRUKSVETENSKAPER  -- Husdjursvetenskap -- Husdjursvetenskap (hsv//swe)

AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES  -- Animal and Dairy Sience -- Animal and Dairy Science. (hsv//eng)

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

kon (subject category)