EFFECTS OF DIFFERENT FEEDING STRATEGIES ON FORAGING ABILITY AND NUTRIENT DIGESTIBILITY OF A SLOW GROWING ORGANIC BROILER GENOTYPE

Summary

The organic poultry production in Europe is increasing. The use of organic feed has been seen as one of the major constraint especially the protein sources, and efforts have been made to secure the future of this system. Access to outdoor area by organic chicken has been described as a means to partly compensate for their nutritional needs and the knowledge of feed items selected in the outdoor area can ease 100% transition to organic feed. An experiment was conducted to examine the effects of different feeding strategies on the foraging ability and nutrient digestibility of slow growing organic broilers with or without supplement. A total number of Seven hundred and twenty birds (RedBroja and Hubbard genotypes) have access to three different diets (Control, F1 & F2) as well as forages. The diets used were formulated such that F1 diets had a lower protein and amino acid than the standard control diet. F2 is the mixture of both control and F1 diets. A digestibility trial with 72 broilers selected from the main experiment on the outdoor area, showed that there was significant different (P<0.05) in the nitrogen retention between the treatments as higher mean values were recorded for broilers that had access to low protein diet and supplements (grass and chicory leaves). This can probably indicate that these broilers utilize the nutrient in the foraging materials as a means to partially compensate for the lower protein and amino acid contents in their diets. Moreover, broilers with access to low protein diet gained weight comparable to the control birds during the digestibility experiment, which suggest that their health and welfare are not adversely affected during this experiment. Microscopy analysis of excreta were performed to study the feed items selected by broilers and the results indicated a higher intake of plant material by broilers fed diet F1 compare to the Control. Thus, stimulating foraging activity through the use of low protein diet with slow growing genotype could be one of the strategies to achieve or ease the transition to 100% organic feed supply to organic broilers in the future.