Broiler breeders are commonly feed restricted using some variation of skip-a-day feeding to prevent excessive body weight (BW) gain and poor flock uniformity that results in lower production levels. However, the level of feed restriction has increased leading to negative effects on broiler breeder welfare. Research needs to be conducted to evaluate alternative feeding programs to diminish the negative impact of restricted feeding on bird welfare. This research examined pullets that were fed soybean hulls (alternate day feeding, ATD) on the off day of a traditional skip-a-day feeding program in comparison to the standard skip-a-day program (SAD). The 2 dietary feeding treatments each had 3 replicate pens of 210 pullets each and were fed from wk 5 to 21 of age. Nitrogen-corrected true metabolizable energy and digestible amino acid coefficients of soybean hulls were determined. Body weight in the ATD feed program was significantly higher (P < 0.001) than the birds on the SAD feed program until 16 wk of age. Feed allocations for the SAD feeding program was increased at 11 wk of age to achieve similar BW prior to photo stimulation. The ATD feed program significantly improved BW uniformity of the birds for weeks 8, 12, 16, and 20. Hens fed on the SAD feed program had a lower mean egg production than the hens fed on the ATD program. There were significant differences on plasma corticosterone concentrations between the feeding days (24 or 48 h after feeding) in both feed programs. There was a shift in the behavior of the birds with significant differences in the feeding, foraging, and comfort behaviors between the feeding programs on the same feed day. Overall, feeding the ATD females soybean hulls on the off feed day improved the BW uniformity and egg production, but further research will be needed to determine potential differences in nutrient utilization or behavior of the pullets that positively impacted this flock performance.

中文翻译：

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替代饲喂计划对肉种鸡行为、生产性能和血浆皮质酮的影响。


肉种鸡通常会使用某些不同的隔日饲喂方式来限制饲料，以防止体重 (BW) 增加过多和鸡群均匀度差，从而导致生产水平降低。然而，饲料限制水平的提高对肉种鸡的福利产生了负面影响。需要进行研究来评估替代喂养计划，以减少限制喂养对鸟类福利的负面影响。这项研究检查了在传统隔日饲喂计划的休息日饲喂大豆皮（隔日饲喂，ATD）的小母鸡与标准隔日饲喂计划（SAD）的比较。 2 种饲料喂养处理各有 3 个重复栏，每个栏有 210 只小母鸡，从 5 周到 21 周龄进行喂养。测定了大豆皮的氮校正真实代谢能和可消化氨基酸系数。在 16 周龄之前，ATD 饲料计划中的鸡只体重显着高于 SAD 饲料计划中的鸡只 (P < 0.001)。 SAD 喂养计划的饲料分配在 11 周龄时增加，以在光刺激前达到相似的体重。 ATD 饲料计划显着改善了第 8、12、16 和 20 周鸡的体重均匀度。用 SAD 饲料计划喂养的母鸡的平均产蛋量低于用 ATD 计划喂养的母鸡。在两种喂养方案中，不同喂养日（喂养后 24 或 48 小时）血浆皮质酮浓度存在显着差异。鸟类的行为发生了变化，同一饲喂日不同饲喂方案之间的饲喂、觅食和舒适行为存在显着差异。 总体而言，在停饲日饲喂 ATD 雌性大豆皮可改善体重均匀度和产蛋量，但需​​要进一步研究以确定养分利用或后备母鸡行为方面的潜在差异，从而对鸡群性能产生积极影响。