TITLE:
Age and Gender Dependent Nutrient Composition of Feather and Feather-Free Body Fractions in Meat-Type Chickens
AUTHORS:
Christian Wecke, Daulat Rehman Khan, Angela Sünder, Frank Liebert
KEYWORDS:
Growing Chickens, Feather Composition, Body Composition, Age, Gender
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Animal Sciences,
Vol.8 No.1,
January
10,
2018
ABSTRACT: The objective of this
research was to update current results about the nutrient composition of
broiler chickens during the growth period up to market age. Two growth
experiments were conducted for assessing the nutrient content of feathers and
feather-free body of meat-type chickens (Ross 308). Both male and female birds
were reared under uniform management conditions (floor pens; 15 pens per
gender; 5 birds per pen). Experimental diets both for the starter (day 1 to 22)
and the grower period (day 22 to 36) were based on corn, wheat, soybean meal,
soybean protein concentrate and well balanced with feed amino acids. The feed
protein quality was adapted to the ideal amino acid ratio and equated within
both of the feeding periods by adjusting a constant mixture of the feed
proteins. Each 15 birds per gender (3 pens of 5 birds) were selected and
subsequently fasted for 24 h before quantitative de-feathering both at start of
the experiment and further on weekly up to the end of the 5th week.
Nutrient content was determined in representative samples of the feather and
feather-free body fraction. In the feather dry matter (DM) very high crude
protein (CP) concentrations (>96%) with low age-dependent and insignificant
gender-specific differences were observed. In spite, a relatively high
variation of CP content in the DM of feather-free body was found. Depending on
age, the body CP significantly decreased with increasing age, but male birds
yielded higher (p p