PRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE, CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS AND MEAT QUALITY OF BROILER CHICKENS AT DIFFERENT MARKETING AGES | ||
| Egyptian Poultry Science Journal | ||
| Article 17, Volume 40, Issue 1, January 2020, Pages 275-289 PDF (837.15 K) | ||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/epsj.2020.81033 | ||
| Author | ||
| Mohammed Shehata Abougabal | ||
| Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt. | ||
| Abstract | ||
| Length of production cycle and broiler marketing decision is an important issue especially when productivity and product quality are considered. The objectives of this study were to determine the effects of the age at marketing on productive performance, carcass characteristics and meat quality traits of broiler chickens at five different ages. For this purpose, a total of 450 mixed-sex Cobb500 broiler chicks were used. Chicks were randomly distributed into five equal groups with 3 replicates allocated in 15 pens. Broilers were reared until different marketing ages at 30, 35, 40, 45 and 50 days. Productive traits were recorded and performance indexes were calculated at different marketing ages. At each marketing day, a slaughter test was done using 12 birds subjected to a simplified carcass analysis. Breast muscles were used for evaluated meat quality and physicochemical properties. The results indicated that the age at marketing had significant effects (p<0.05) on all parameters investigated in point of productive traits, performance indexes, carcass traits, cut-up pieces and meat quality of broiler chickens. In conclusion, delaying marketing age positively increased live body weight and yield of live mass. But it negatively reduces feed efficiency, feed conversion ratio and livability % with increasing age which negatively affected the EPEF of broiler production. According to the EPEF, which expresses technical efficiency in one index, it can be stated that broiler production is only profitable with an EPEF at 30th and 35th days of age only. Thus, broiler farmers and producers have to differentiate or balance between ignoring some reduction in productive performance and compensating this with some added value from selling chicken in portions. But actually further research is required to find out an optimal marketing age in terms of economic considerations to calculate the costs and profits at different marketing ages. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| broiler; marketing age; performance; carcass quality | ||
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