Effects of Stocking Density and Dietary Energy Level on Growth Performance and Meat Quality of Broilers

TANG Jianping, CAI Huiyi, CHANG Wenhuan, LIU Guohua, ZHANG Shu, LIAO Ruibo, DENG Huiling

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1006-267x.2012.02.008

Chinese Journal of Animal Nutrition >

2012 , Vol. 24 >Issue 2: 239 - 251

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1006-267x.2012.02.008

Swine and Poultry Nutrition

Effects of Stocking Density and Dietary Energy Level on Growth Performance and Meat Quality of Broilers

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Feed Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081,China

Received date: 2011-08-16

Online published: 2012-02-07

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Abstract

This study was to investigate the effects of stocking density and dietary energy level on growth performance and meat quality of Arbor Acres (AA) broilers, and the relationship between stocking density and energy requirements. A total of 1 140 broilers aged 2 weeks were randomly assigned to 12 groups with 5 replicates per group in a 3×4 completely randomized factorial design. Three dietary metabolizable energy levels were 12.33, 12.75 and 13.17 MJ/kg, respectively. Four stocking densities were 10, 16, 22 and 28 birds per pen, respectively. And each pen was 1.5 m². The experiment lasted for 28 d. The results showed as follows: 1) stocking density and dietary energy level affected the growth performance of boilers. But there was no interaction between the two factors(P>0.05). High stocking density significantly decreased average daily feed intake and average daily gain of broilers (P<0.01),but did not affect the feed to gain ratio(P>0.05). High metabolic energy significantly decreased the feed to gain ratio (P<0.01), and increased average daily gain and final body weight of broilers (P<0.01). 2)Carcass characteristics and meat quality of broilers were slightly affected by stocking density and dietary energy level. However, energy affected fatty acid composition in breast muscle of broilers(P<0.05). 3)Under appropriate environment, stocking density did not cause the immune stress of broilers(P>0.05). In conclusion, stocking density and dietary energy level affect the growth performance of broilers, and dietary energy level has a significant effect on the meat quality. However, in appropriate environment, energy requirements for broilers are not affected by slightly higher stocking density, and there is no interaction between energy level and stocking density.

Key words： stocking density; energy level; broilers; growth performance; meat quality

Cite this article

TANG Jianping, CAI Huiyi, CHANG Wenhuan, LIU Guohua, ZHANG Shu, LIAO Ruibo, DENG Huiling . Effects of Stocking Density and Dietary Energy Level on Growth Performance and Meat Quality of Broilers[J]. Chinese Journal of Animal Nutrition, 2012 , 24(2) : 239 -251 . DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1006-267x.2012.02.008

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