Performance characteristics and carcass quality of broiler chicks under high stocking density fed vitamin E supplemented diet

Abstract

Two hundred and seventy, day-old Arbor Acre strain of broiler chicks were used for this research. The birds were randomly divided into five treatment groups of 10 birds/m 2 /replicate (0.1m 2 /bird) in Treatment 1 (positive control) while those in Treatments 2 (negative control), 3, 4 and 5 had 20 birds/m 2 /replicate (0.05m 2 /bird). Birds fed dietary Treatment 1 and 2 had no supplementation with vitamin E, whereas birds on dietary Treatments 3, 4 and 5 had 50mg/kg, 100mg/kg and 150 mg/kg vitamin E supplementation respectively. All treatments were replicated three times. At the end of the 4 weeks of experiment, carcass characteristics (Cold shortening (CS), Thermal shortening (TS), Cooking loss (CL), Shear force (SF) and Water Holding Capacity (WHC)) of the birds were determined. There were no significant changes in the weight gain and final weight of the birds fed the different dietary treatments. However, the feed conversion ratio (FCR) revealed that birds on dietary treatment 2 had the highest significant value of 3.29 compared to those on Vit E supplemented diets. No significant different was observed in the WCH of both raw (58.43% to 59.43%) and the cooked meat (59.02% to 59.51%) for all the treatments. Birds fed dietary treatment 2 (negative control) had the highest significant (p<0.05) CS value of 3.50% compared to its counterparts on Vit E supplemented diets with values ranging from 2.45% to 2.55%. No significant difference was observed in the SF of the birds in all the treatment with mean value ranging from 3.35% to 3.60%. In conclusion broiler chicks could be stocked up to 20 birds/m 2 only if the diet is supplemented with 100mg/kg Vit. E.