Research article

THE EFFECT OF EARLY FEEDING IN THE HATCHING MACHINE ON THE PHYSIOLOGICAL TRAITS OF BROILERS

Salah Hadi Sultan Al-Shamri and Aqeel Yousif Alshukri

Online First: January 20, 2023


The access of early chicks to food and water is of great importance in enhancing future production performance. The current study was conducted to find out the effect of early feeding in the hatching machine on the physiological traits of broilers. The experiment was designed using a completely randomized design (CRD) and 300 broiler chicks of the type Ross 308 were used, chicks were distributed on 5 treatments for each treatment 3 replicates (20 birds for each replicate).The treatments were: T1: the control was given the starter ration and water directly upon reaching the breeding hall, T2, T3: the introduction of the starter diet and water was delayed for 4, 8 hours, respectively, after reaching the breeding hall, T4: early feeding inside the hatching machine with a pre-starter diet , T5: Early feeding in the hatcher after the chicks leave the hatching machine directly with a pre-starter diet . It showed the following results: Significantly excelled in blood glucose (p0.05) in favor of T4 treatment compared with T1 and T3. There were no significant differences in the percentage of total protein, albumin and globulin among all experimental treatments. A significant decrease in the level of uric acid in the blood (p0.01) for treatments T2 and T4 compared to treatments T1 and T5. A significant decrease in triglycerides (p0.01) for treatment T4 compared with T1, T2 and T3, with a significant decrease for treatment T5 compared to T1 and T2. Significant improvement in cholesterol (p0.01) in favor of treatment T4 compared with all other experimental treatments. There are no significant differences in measuring the bird's body temperature in the third, fourth and fifth weeks in the cold and hot times of the day.We recommend, through this study, the necessity of using early feeding inside the hatching machine for its importance in improving some physiological treatments of broilers.

Keywords

early feeding, hatching machine, physiological traits