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Influence of Stocking Density on the Performance, Physiological Traits and Litter Quality in Slow Growing Broilers
Abstract
Stocking chickens beyond the optimal stocking density (SD) leads to poor production performance
and welfare challenges. Whether or not dual-purpose chickens (SASSO, XL44 × SA31A) might be
able to perform to their genetic potential under high SD (HSD) was investigated in this study, with
the hypothesis that a higher SD would not affect the growth performance, gastrointestinal pH, carcass and bone traits, flock uniformity, and litter quality in dual-purpose chickens during a 49-day
trial. At d 9 post-hatch, 325 chickens were allocated to three SD treatments (low SD, 15 birds per
2.0 m2
; medium SD, 20 birds per 2.0 m2
; high SD, 30 birds per 2.0 m2
) with 5 replications per treatment in a CRD. Data on body weight (BW), gain, feed intake (FI), feed conversion ratio (FCR),
gastrointestinal pH, organ weight (% BW), BW uniformity and litter quality were collected. Birds
in the low SD (LSD) group consistently had the highest (P < 0.05) BW, gain, and FI, followed by
those in the medium SD (MSD) throughout the trial (d 16, 23, 30, 37, 44, 51, and 58 post-hatch).
On d 23 post-hatch, birds under the HSD had marginally better (P = 0.052) FCR than those on the
LSD. On d 44 post-hatch, none of the variables were influenced by SD. However, birds on the LSD
numerically showed higher (P > 0.05) BW gain and FI. Stocking density had no effect (P > 0.05)
on gut pH, bone traits (length, diameter, weight, and BS of tibia and femur), and litter quality on d
58. It was concluded that while HSD does not affect gastrointestinal pH and bone health, it significantly hampers production performance and BW uniformity, and so LSD of 15 birds per 2.0 m2
(7.5 birds/ m2
) is recommended for dual-purpose chickens.
