The Effects of Early Age Feed Restriction on Performance and Carcass Characteristics of Male Broiler Chickens

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the response of broiler chickens to degrees of diet dilution from 4-11 days of age. Broilers were fed conventional broiler diets from 0-4 and 11-42 days of age. From 4-11 days, birds were fed a commercial corn, wheat and soybean meal broiler starter, or the same diet in which major nutrients were replaced with 30, 40, or 50% ground rice hulls. Mineral and vitamin sources were not affected by diet dilution. Each of the 3 diluted diets together with an undiluted diet (control) was fed to 5 replicate floor pen groups of 60 male broilers. Diet dilution resulted in a significant (p 0.05) reduction in body weight at 11 days of age, although by 42 days there was complete recovery of retarded body weight with no change in overall efficiency of feed utilization. Diet dilution had no significant effect (p>0.05) on carcass characteristics at 42 days of age.