Growth promoting effect of a processed vegetable ingredient in pullets

Abstract

A total of 1,500 one-day-old Hy-Line W36 pullets were randomized in two treatments, 15 repetitions and 50 pullets per repetitions to evaluate the dietary use of a processed vegetable ingredient (PVI) as a functional feed on the growth performance of pullets. The dietary treatments consisted of the inclusion of 10, 8, 5, and 3 % of the processed vegetable ingredient in starter 1 (0-3 weeks), starter 2 (4-6 weeks), grower (7-12 weeks), developer and pre-lay (13-15; 16-17 weeks, respectively). From the third week on, the functional feed increased (P<0.05) the body weight of pullets compared to the control diet (193.98 vs 204.38 g), without notable changes for viability, uniformity, and feed conversion ratio for 17 experimental weeks (P>0.05). The dietary inclusion with the processed vegetable ingredient had a natural growth-promoting effect on pullets.

Key words: body weight, dietary inclusion, feed intake, functional feed, birds