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Abstract
1. Six experiments were carried out with male and female broiler chicks in a factorial arrangement to evaluate the combined effects of fat concentration or energy‐to‐protein (E:P) ratio in diets fed from 1 to 7 or 14 d of age, and of the E:P ratio in diets fed from 1 or 2 to 7 weeks of age on fattening and performance of the birds.
2. Diets with a wide E:P ratio fed from 1 or 2 to 7 weeks consistently and significantly increased abdominal fat pad size at 7 weeks of age. On the other hand, in 5 of the experiments, the nutritional treatments from 1 to 7 or 14 d did not significantly affect this variable in chicks fed on diets with either the narrow or the wide E:P ratio.
3. Body weights and food utilisation at 7 or 14 d were consistently and significantly improved by increasing dietary fat concentration and using diets with a narrow E:P ratio. However, at 7 weeks of age, in only two of the experiments were body weights still significantly affected by early nutrition.
4. Diets with a wide E:P ratio consistently and significantly reduced the performance of chicks up to 4 weeks of age. Nevertheless, at 7 weeks of age the performance of these chicks tended to be better (at times significantly so) in most of the experiments, despite their excess fattening.
Notes
Contribution No. 1898‐E, 1986 series, from the Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, Israel.