Limiting the impact of diet change for broilers

31-12-2021 | Feed per species | Article

Detailed observations show that for individual birds 'feed refusal' is observed mainly in the first 20 minutes but that within 24 hours of the diet change, there is compensatory feeding that normalises, or even exceeds, expected feed intake for that day. Photo: Jan WIllem Schouten

In order to match nutrient requirements with bird age it is necessary to change dietary specifications throughout the production cycle. Although requirements change slowly over time, we can only practically accommodate this transition with rather abrupt changes to diet formulation. Luckily, birds easily adapt. Our current strains of broilers show outstanding genetic potential in terms of growth rate fuelled by ever increasing feed intake. This genetic potential is necessarily underpinned by e