Influence of body weight at hatching and inclusion of oat hulls in the diet on growth performance and digestive tract traits of brown-egg laying pullets from 0 to 16 wk of age

The influence of pre-incubated weight of eggs (EW) laid by 24 wk-old brown layer breeders and the inclusion (wt:wt) of 3% oat hulls (OH) in the diet on growth performance and gastrointestinal tract (GIT) traits were studied in pullets reared under stressful conditions from hatching to 16 wk of age. The initial BW of the pullets resulting from these eggs was of 29.9 and 38.2 g for the 2 extreme groups. The stress applied consisted in using a prolonged (8 h) transport time from the hatchery to the experimental facility, reducing barn temperature at night from placement to 7 d of age, and late beak trimming of the pullets (18 d). Growth performance, pullet uniformity, and GIT traits were measured by period (0 to 5 wk, 5 to 10 wk, and 10 to 16 wk of age) and cumulatively. Data were analyzed as a completely randomized design with treatments organized as a 7 × 2 factorial, with 7 groups of pullets that differed on pre-hatched EW (47 to 54 g with 1 g difference between groups) and 2 levels of OH inclusion (0 vs. 3%). Effects of EW on the variables studied were partitioned into linear and quadratic components. The stress conditions applied affected pullet growth, with BW at 5 wk of age that were as an average 27% lower than recommended by the genetic company (269 g vs. 367 g). Neither initial EW nor OH inclusion affected any of the variables studied. In summary, EW of young breeders did not affect growth performance, BW uniformity, or GIT traits of the resulting pullets from 0 to 16 wk of age. Eggs bigger than 47 g laid by young breeders can produce high quality pullets. Pullets fed diets with 3% OH performed equally to pullets fed the control diet, suggesting that the amount of fiber can be increased during the rearing period of brown egg pullet