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The effect of prior training of broiler chickens on diet selection using whole wheat

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 November 2017

M. Covasa
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Physiology and Nutrition, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT
J.M. Forbes
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Physiology and Nutrition, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT
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Extract

It has been suggested that female broiler chickens, having lower growth potential, are overprovided with dietary protein and that they will benefit more than males from a choice between a commercial standard food and whole wheat. The need for an initial learning period, before animals make ‘correct’ dietary choices has been emphasised (Mastika and Cumming, 1987; Rose and Kyriazakis, 1991; Shariatmadari and Forbes, 1991), but the problem of predicting the amount of necessary sampling, the method of learning and consequently the length of the experience period, or how often it has to be repeated, remained to be considered.

Therefore, the present experiment was designed to study whether birds need a learning period when presented with two foods, a commercial standard food (N) and whole wheat (W) in a choice feeding system.

Type
Poultry
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Production 1994

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References

1. Mastika, M. and Cumming, R.B. (1987). Effect of previous experience and environmental variations on the performance and pattern of feed intake of choice fed and complete fed broilers. Recent Advances in Animal nutrition in Australia, pp. 260282.Google Scholar
2. Rose, S.P. and Kyriazakis, I. (1991). Diet selection of pigs and poultry. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 50: 8798.Google Scholar
3. Shariatmadari, F. and Forbes, J.M. (1991). A comparison of a split diet system and choice feeding on food intake and growth of broilers. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 50: 96A.Google Scholar