Effect of feed form and change of feed form on the performances, mortality and footpad dermatitis of fastgrowing broilers

Effect of feed form and change of feed form on the performances, mortality and footpad dermatitis of fastgrowing broilers L. Maertens, S. Leleu, E. Delezie ILVO (Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research), Animal Sciences Unit, Scheldeweg 68, 9090 Melle, Belgium It is already long time known that pelleted diets have several advantages over mash diets but also some disadvantages in broiler production. Both feed forms are still used in Belgium. The objective of our trial was to judge the effect of feed form and the change of feed form at different ages in very fast growing male broilers on their performances, mortality and footpad and hock dermatitis. Five dietary treatments were compared: “fine” mash (FM), “coarse” mash (CM) and pellets (P) fed from birth until slaughter age. Treatment four (MMP) consisted of “fine” mash both in the starter (0-13 d) and grower period (13-26 d) but pellets during the finisher period (26-39 d). MPP birds on the other hand received the mash form only during the starter period. In the pelleted grower and finisher diet 1% and 2% fat, respectively, was exchanged with wheat for technological reasons. Each feeding regime was fed to 16 pens with 30 Ross chicks. Performances and footpad lesions were followed in 8 pens per treatment while the remaining 8 pens of each treatment were additionally used to judge mortality. P-feeding significantly increased feed intake compared to both M-feeding counterparts (+16%, P<0.01). This resulted in a final weight at 39 d of 2,967 g; 2,519 g and 2,454 g for P, CM and FM fed birds, respectively. When broilers were given pellets from grower onwards (MPP) feed intake was significantly increased (P<0.01) compared with both mash treatments, resulting in a final weight of 2,823 g. MMP birds increased their feed intake to a much lower extend and by consequence their final weight (2,593 g, not significantly higher than CM-birds). The FCR of MPP-birds was lower (1.497, P<0.01) compared with all other treatments. Also the weight adjusted FCR2500 was most favourable in MPP-birds. However, if broilers were fed exclusively pellets, a higher incidence of footpad dermatitis (but not significant) and hock lesions (P<0.05 compared with FM, CM and MMP) was assessed. Furthermore, mortality rate was also higher for this treatment group (7.5% vs < 3.3% in all other treatments). It is concluded that based on the performances, mortality and hock lesions, a transition from mash to pellets at 13 d (MPP) is the best option for quickly growing broilers.