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Abstract
1. This study was to determine the effects of two lighting programmes (continuous—24L:0D or intermittent—12L:3(1L:3D)), two feeding programmes (continuous—ad libitum or meal feeding—3 h feed:3 h deprivation × 4 times per d) and two ascorbic acid (AA) supplementations (0 or 150 mg/l in water) on broiler performance and incidence of tibial dyschondroplasia (TD).
2. One-day-old male commercial (Ross PM3) broiler chicks (1600) were used. The chicks were randomly divided into 8 treatment groups (2 × 2 × 2) and their replicates (4 replicates per treatment).
3. Intermittent lighting increased body weight and improved feed conversion. Body weight of broilers was decreased by meal feeding. AA supplementation had no significant effect on the body weight and feed conversion ratio. There was no lighting × feeding × supplemental AA interaction for body weight, feed conversion ratio, mortality rate and carcase weight.
4. Supplemental AA improved the cortical thickness of tibiotarsus and decreased the incidence of TD.
5. It was concluded that the application of intermittent lighting in combination with supplementation of 150 mg/l AA is a useful method to reduce TD in broilers without loss of performance.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported with a grant from the Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK). The authors thank Dr Recep Cibik, Dr Abdullah Yalcin and Dr Hakan Sagirkaya for their editorial assistance in the preparation of the manuscript.