Performance of broilers raised at different altitudes in South Marmara region of Turkey

Abstract

Environmental conditions are very important for broiler production. Altitude is one of the most important environmental conditions. There have been several studies to determine the effects at different altitudes on broiler performance in hypobaric chambers (which simulates different altitudes) (Owen et al. 1990; Witzel et al. 1990; Owen et al. 1995; Balog et al. 2000a; 2000b). In most of these studies the broilers that were raised at high altitudes had a decrease in live weight gain and an increase in mortality rate (Odom et al. 1991: Kumar et al. 1995; Elrom, 2000). In this research the performance of broilers raised at different altitudes in field conditions was investigated.