Effect of different diets on the behaviour of slow-growing broiler genotype

Abstract

A total of 420 male day-old-chicks of a slow-growing genetic line (Hubbard ISA Red JA) were used as the trial material. The treatment groups were: Dilute-AL (energy and protein diluted diet fed ad libitum), Dilute-R (restricted energy and protein diluted diet), High-AL (high energy and protein diet fed ad libitum) and High-R (restricted high energy and protein diet). Restricted birds showed a greater percentage of time spot pecking, preening and in feather maintenance and less time resting than birds fed ad libitum but the differences were relatively small.