Behavior of Weekly Weight, Mean Weekly Gain, Mean Daily Gain, and Mean Weekly Accumulated Gain in Two Female Broiler Lines in Tropical Environmental Conditions

Abstract

To study the behavior of weekly weights, feed consumption, and feed conversion associated to meat production in female broilers in the tropics, 400 one-day old female broilers (200 Ross 308 and 200 Cobb 500 broilers) were lodged in two houses with uncontrolled environmental conditions for breeding. A multifactorial design was used to study lines (Cobb 500 and Ross 308), feed presentation (meal and pellets), and two houses, for a base design of eight combinations of factors and a repetition, totaling N=16 quarters. The experimental unit was made of 25 female broilers in each quarter, with a density of 12 chicken/m2, similar to the usual local production conditions. Simple and multiple analyses of variance were made with interactions and analysis of covariance. The values achieved for the weekly weights, feed consumption, and feed conversion, were adequate for the production conditions of female broilers in the tropic, and similar to reports of yielding purposes of the lines studied.