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Abstract
1. The objective of the present study was to examine whether the commonly applied duration of feed withdrawal (10 h) should be altered if broilers receive a commercial whole wheat (WW) diet instead of a completely pelleted (C) diet.
2. Inclusion of whole wheat in the diet did not affect weight gain, feed intake or feed conversion.
3. The effect of different feed withdrawal (FW) durations on body weight loss was similar for both diets.
4. Gall bladder content was not significantly greater after longer feed withdrawal periods, irrespective of diet composition. Birds given the WW diet had significantly greater gall bladder contents than birds receiving the C diet.
5. Both diets had similar effects on wet weight of the total gut contents, mean relative wet contents of each gut region and percentage water content of the gut contents.
6. These results indicate that a feed withdrawal period of 10 h is sufficient for broilers on the WW diet.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Veerle Bruggeman, Christine Careghi, Lieve De Smit, Quirine Swennen and Inge Vaesen for their skilled assistance. This research was funded by a PhD grant from the Institute for the Promotion of Innovation through Science and Technology in Flanders (IWT-Vlaanderen).