Effect of initial body weight on the post-hatch developmental growth trajectory of broiler chickens raised to 21 days of age
Mallory Landreth*, Oscar Tejeda1
1 Faculty advisor
Initial body weights of newly hatched chicks have been thought to have profound implications in the post-hatch growth performance of broiler chickens. However, farmers cannot decide the quality of chicks they receive from hatcheries. Therefore, we conducted an experiment to determine the effect of initial body weight at hatch of broiler chickens on the post-hatch growth performance. The experiment consisted in 2 treatment groups, namely, T1 with chicks with an average body weight 5 gram heavier than the average; T2 with chicks with an average body weight 5 lower than the average. All chicks were fed corn-soybean meal diet. Body weight gain, Feed intake, and FCR were measured on days 7, 14, and 21. Statistical Analysis were conducted suing SPSS statistical software. No statistical differences were observed among experimental treatments in any of the parameters measured (P > 0.05). However, Birds from T1 had numerically heavier body weights at the end of the experiment. Besides, T1 birds also had a numerically better feed conversion ratio compared to T2. In conclusion, these results indicate that even though no statistical significant differences were observed, there is the potential for decrease performance in broilers with lower initial body weights.
Keywords: broiler. initial weight, performance, average
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