SUMMER chickens "on herbs"

Summary

In the organic RDD project ’SUMMER’, an experiment with organic broilers with access to a large range area with herbs has been performed. The effect of chicken genotypes with different growth rates and different feeding strategies on the animals’ feed intake, growth, welfare, health and meat quality was investigated.
The results so far indicate that it is necessary to use chicken genotypes with lower growth rates for a better welfare, and the focus should be on the individual genotype and its actual nutrient requirements and utilisation of feed from the range area.