Effect of body weight on uniformity, livability, and skeletal development and strength of broiler breeder females

Figures & data

Table 1. Ingredients (%), metabolizable energy and nutritional composition of the experimental diets.

	Starter I	Starter II	Grower	Pre-breeder	Breeder I
	0 to 3 wks	4 to 6 wks	7 to 15 wks	16 to 24 wks	25 to 30 wks
Wheat	35.2	36.2	27.7	33.1	30.8
Soybean meal	25.6	17.8	-	6.2	15.8
Corn	24.5	31.6	30.0	35.0	38.0
Sunflower 28–30%	5.00	6.00	15.76	10.50	4.10
Wheat bran	3.00	1.23	19.70	7.00	–
Dicalcium phosphate	2.33	2.23	1.87	1.53	1.70
Rapeseed meal	–	2.00	1.57	3.00	–
Soybean oil	2.00	1.00	1.20	0.77	2.00
Limestone	0.97	0.90	0.90	1.87	6.57
Premix^1	0.30	0.30	0.30	0.30	0.30
Sodium bicarbonate	0.27	0.24	0.22	0.20	0.18
Salt	0.23	0.23	0.21	0.23	0.24
L-lysine sulfate 54.6%	0.23	–	0.26	0.12	0.03
Methionine	0.20	0.10	0.11	0.10	0.14
Choline Cl-60%	0.10	0.10	0.10	0.07	0.07
Calcium pidolate	0.05	0.03	0.03	–	–
Threonine	0.05	0.03	0.04	0.01	0.04
AMEn, Kcal/Kg	2810	2801	2550	2701	2800
Dry matter %^2	89.0	88.6	88.6	88.7	89.4
Crude Protein %^2	20.7	16.9	13.3	14.4	14.8
dig Lys %	0.95	0.67	0.50	0.52	0.58
dig Met %	0.47	0.35	0.32	0.32	0.35
dig M + C %	0.74	0.60	0.53	0.54	0.56
dig Thre %	0.64	0.54	0.39	0.42	0.47
dig Trp %	0.20	0.17	0.13	0.14	0.14
Crude Fibre %	4.17	4.48	7.99	5.99	3.46
Crude Fat %^2	4.06	3.05	3.98	3.02	4.13
Ash %^2	5.87	5.68	5.30	5.92	10.21
Ca %	1.06	1.00	0.91	1.19	2.99
dig P %	0.48	0.46	0.42	0.36	0.36

¹Premix provided per kilogram of diet: vitamin A (retinyl acetate), 10000 UI; vitamin D₃ (cholecalciferol), 1500 UI; 25-hydroxycholecalciferol, 0.0375 mg; vitamin E (DL-α-tocopheryl acetate), 100 UI; vitamin K₃, 10.00 mg; Vitamin B₁(thiamin), 7.00 mg; vitamin B₂ (riboflavin), 20.00 mg; vitamin B₅ (pantotfemaleic acid), 27.22 mg; vitamin B₆ (pyridoxine hydrochloride), 10.00 mg; vitamin B₁₂ (cyanocobalamin), 0.07 mg; vitamin B₃ (nicotinic acid), 87.09 mg; vitamin B₉ (folic acid), 5.00 mg; vitamin B₇ (biotin), 0.60 mg; vitamin C (ascorbyl phosphate), 150 mg; iodine, 2.00 mg; Mn (manganous oxide), 80.00 mg; Mn (manganese chelate), 40.00 mg; Cu (cupric sulfate), 6.00 mg; Cu (copper chelate), 10.00 mg; Zn (zinc oxide), 60 mg; Zn (zinc chelate), 40.00 mg; Se (sodium selenite), 0.20 mg; Se (selenium organic form), 0.20 mg; Fe (ferrous carbonate), 65.00 mg.

²Analyzed values.

Table 2. Body weight (g) of the Light Non-Graded (LNG) and Heavy Non-Graded (HNG) broiler breeder females.

	Body weight (g)
Age (wks)	LNG^1	HNG^2	SEM (n = 40)	P-value
5	587	831	6.2	<0.001
10	829	1184	16.9	<0.001
15	1346	1762	24.6	<0.001
20	2035	2438	42.3	<0.001
25	3292	3543	48.0	<0.01
30	3944	3995	59.8	0.571

Note: Non-Graded: 160 females randomly selected at 5 wks of age within the 1988 broiler breeder females kept in a standard breeder farm.

¹The 40 lightest birds, below the standard body weight at 5 wks, of the Non-Graded.

²The 40 heaviest birds, over the standard body weight at 5 wks, of the Non-Graded.

Table 3. Body weight coefficient of variation (%) of the Graded Flock and Non-Graded broiler breeder females, and of the Light Non-Graded (LNG) and Heavy Non-Graded (HNG) broiler breeder females.

	Coefficient of variation (%)
Age (wks)	Graded Flock^1	n	Non-Graded ^2	n	P-value	LNG^3	n	HNG^4	n	P-value
5	8.2	40	13.3	160	<0.01	6.2	40	4.9	40	0.129
10	8.4	40	15.5	155	<0.001	12.9	37	8.1	40	<0.01
15	7.0	40	12.3	150	<0.001	11.8	35	7.0	40	<0.01
20	6.5	40	13.0	149	<0.001	12.5	34	8.6	40	0.029
25	7.0	40	8.1	143	0.286	11.0	32	6.7	39	<0.01
30	7.3	40	6.0	137	0.123	7.5	31	7.2	37	0.806

¹1828 broiler breeder females kept in a standard breeder farm (the initial 1988 minus the 160 females of the Non-Graded).

²160 females randomly selected at 5 wks of age within the 1988 broiler breeder females.

³The 40 lightest birds, below the standard body weight at 5 wks, of the Non-Graded.

⁴The 40 heaviest birds, over the standard body weight at 5 wks, of the Non-Graded.

Table 4. Accumulated mortality (%) of the Light Non-Graded (LNG) and Heavy Non-Graded (HNG) broiler breeder females.

	Accumulated mortality (%)
Age (wks)	LNG^1	HNG^2	P-value
5	0	0	0
10	7.5	0	0.089
15	12.5	0	0.030
20	15.0	0	0.018
25	20.0	2.5	0.027
30	22.5	7.5	0.115

Note: Non Graded: 160 females randomly selected at 5 wks of age within the 1988 broiler breeder females kept in a standard breeder farm.

¹The 40 lightest birds, below the standard body weight at 5 wks, of the Non-Graded.

²The 40 heaviest birds, over the standard body weight at 5 wks, of the Non-Graded.

Table 5. Tibia length, breaking strength and elastic modulus data according to broiler breeder body weight at 5 wks (LNG: Light Non-Graded and HNG: Heavy Non-Graded) and weeks of age.

Effects	TL^3 (mm)	BS^4 (kgf/mm^2)	EM^5 (Kgf/mm)
Body weight
LNG^1	108	64.3	61.5
HNG^2	120	71.4	68.9
n	18	9	9
SEM	1.0	2.6	2.58
Age (wks)
5	86^c
10	102^b
15	120^a	38.9^b	37.9^b
20	126^a
25	125^a	80.3^a	75.6^a
30	126^a	80.1^a	78.2^a
n	6	6	6
SEM	1.8	3.2	3.16
P-value
Body weight	<0.001	0.085	0.072
Age (wks)	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001
Interaction	0.281	0.905	0.438

Note: Non-Graded: 160 females randomly selected at 5 wks of age within the 1988 broiler breeder females kept in a standard breeder farm.

^a-cMeans within a column and within a source with no common superscript differ significantly.

¹The 40 lightest birds, below the standard body weight at 5 wks, of the Non-Graded.

²The 40 heaviest birds, over the standard body weight at 5 wks, of the Non-Graded

³Tibia length.

⁴Breaking strength (maximum load endurance).

⁵Elastic modulus (rigidity of the bone).

Table 6. Alkaline Phosphatase and Osteocalcin serological levels according to broiler breeder body weight at 5 wks (LNG: Light Non-Graded and HNG: Heavy Non-Graded) and weeks of age.

Effects	ALP^3 (UI)	OC^4 (ng/ml)
Body weight
LNG^1	2290	976
HNG^2	2949	1238
n	28	20
SEM	108.6	56.6
Age (wks)
5	3374	1189
10	1944	1025
n	28	20
SEM	108.6	56.6
Body weight/Age (wks)
LNG/5	2781^b	1032
LNG/10	1798^c	920
HNG/5	3839^a	1346
HNG/10	2059^bc	1130
n	14	10
SEM	153.6	79.6
P-value
Body weight	0.032	0.029
Age (wks)	<0.001	0.050
Interaction	0.023	0.527

Note: Non-Graded: 160 females randomly selected at 5 wks of age within the 1988 broiler breeder females kept in a standard breeder farm.

^a–cMeans within a column and within a source with no common superscript differ significantly.

¹The 40 lightest birds, below the standard body weight at 5 wks, of the Non-Graded.

²The 40 heaviest birds, over the standard body weight at 5 wks, of the Non-Graded.

³Alkaline Phosphatase.

⁴Osteocalcin.