Effect of different varieties of triticale on product characteristics in broiler chickens

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to determine how forage triticale in diets for fattening broilers influence the body weight and weight gain of broiler chickens for fattening. The survey was conducted on 400 chickens for fattening provenance Ross 308 for a period of 42 days. On this occasion, four groups of chickens were formed, with 100 chickens being treated in each group, as follows: K (classic mixture for fattening broilers) and O-I (mixtures with triticale variety Kg 20), O-II (mixtures with triticale Favorit) and O-III group (mixtures with triticale Trijumf). The highest average body mass in the groups of chickens (male, female and chicks of both sexes), was scored by broiler chickens of O-II-group. The minimum food consumption for 42-day-old chicks was achieved by group O-I (4.275 kg), and the most by O-II group (4.359 kg). Chickens of O-II- and III-O-group had the best feed conversion, while the chickens of O-I-group had a slightly poorer feed conversion. The mortality of the groups of chickens for the entire period of the study was the lowest in O-II-group, at 2.0%, and the highest mortality was found in O-III-group (6.0%). The production index was the highest in O-II-group (202.726) and the lowest in O-I-group. The results achieved in this research indicate that the use of tested triticale cultivars significantly affected the weight gain and body mass of chicks and have nutritional and economic justification. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. TR 31033]

Keywords

• weight gain
• feeding chickens
• triticale