Effect of a dietary lignocellulose on egg hatchability and performance parameters of commercial broiler breeders and on their progeny grown till market age -

Abstract

Two experiments were performed to test the effects of Arbocel®, a dietary lignocellulose, on Ross 308 broiler breeders and their offspring. In the first experiment, 26,000 layers during their post-peak period and 2,600 roosters were placed in 6 poultry houses under commercial settings to investigate the effect of dietary lignocellulose on production and hatching performance. Corn soybean meal rations containing 0.8percent wheat bran (control) were formulated to meet the specifications of both laying hen and rooster Ross breeders. Other diets containing 0.8percent Arbocel®, were formulated to have the same specifications of the control diets in terms of energy, crude protein and other essential nutrients. Rations were offered to the 33-week old birds in triplicates (averaging 4,330 hens and 430 roosters per house) for a period of 6 months according to breeder recommendations. Total hatching eggs produced per treatment were labeled and set in incubators every 3 days. Hatchability was computed each month on representative samples taken from each house. The t-Test analysis revealed that Arbocel® reduced hen mortality (9.44 vs. 11.39percent) and increased the number of hatching eggs- hen housed (HH) from 105.6 to 109.4. In addition, Arbocel® improved hatchability of sampled eggs by 4.07percent (P0.05) and that of total eggs by 2.81percent. Taking the latter figure into consideration, Arbocel® resulted in 5.7 more saleable chicks per HH and, with an actual market price of 1.60$-kg Arbocel® and 0.5$-day-old chick, Arbocel® would have resulted in an additional net profit of 2.30$-HH during this 6-month period. In the second experiment, 1000 male broiler chicks hatched from parents of both treatments of the previous experiment were set in an environmentally controlled house (2000 broilers in total). Both the commercial (0.8percent wheat bran) and experimental (0.8percent Arbocel®) broiler diets were given to each of the 2 sets of 1000 birds in a 2X2 factorial treatment arrangement, with 5 floor replicates of 100