Protein requirements of growing indigenous chickens during the 14-21 weeks growing period

A study was conducted to investigate the growth response of growing indigenous chickens between 14 and 21 weeks of age to diet protein level. The chickens were offered diets ad libitum with 100, 120, 140, 160 and 180 g crude protein (CP)/kg diet. Body weight and feed intake of the birds were recorded weekly. Feed intake and weight gain increased significantly between the 100 and 160 g CP/kg diets where-after they plateau. Feed efficiency measured by feed conversion ratio improved with increasing dietary protein level up to 160 g CP/kg after which there was no further improvement. It is concluded that the CP requirements for these chickens between 14 and 21 weeks of age is 160 g /kg. Keywords: Indigenous chickens, Protein requirements, 14-21 weeks 78-8

Correlations between thermal environment and egg quality of two layer commercial strains

Heat stress limits the productivity of laying hens, as reflected by egg production and egg quality. The present study aimed at showing the correlations between egg quality parameters and environmental variables recorded on the day eggs were laid and on the previous days. Birds were housed in battery cages in a commercial poultry house. Main component analyses were used to verify associations between environmental and production variables, and Pearson's linear correlation tests were used to further investigate those associations. Analyses were carried out separately for to layer strains, Dekalb® White and Hy-Line® w36, and the variables egg weight (g), eggshell weight (g), specific gravity (g/cm³) and eggshell percentage (%) were compared with the environmental variables of the same day of the production, and one, two, three, and four days before egg production. Sound intensity measured inside the houses was positively associated with the quality parameters of eggs produced on the next day. Thermal environmental variables affected the egg quality differently in each strain, particularly air temperature, internal roof tile temperature, relative humidity, and air velocity. Ammonia concentration measured inside the houses was lower than 1ppm, and did not affect production performance