J. Appl. Poult. Res.
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J APPL POULT RES 2007. 16:171-177
© 2007 Poultry Science Association
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Research Reports

Performance and Carcass Composition of Broilers Fed Different Carbohydrate and Protein Sources in the Prestarter Phase1

F. A. Longo2, J. F. M. Menten3, A. A. Pedroso2, A. N. Figueiredo2, A. M. C. Racanicci2 and J. O. B. Sorbara

Department of Animal Science, Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture, University of São Paulo, 13418-900 Piracicaba, Brazil

Correspondence: 3 Corresponding author: jfmmente{at}esalq.usp.br


   SUMMARY
TOP
 SUMMARY
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
 CONCLUSIONS AND APPLICATIONS
 REFERENCES AND NOTES
 
Chicken growth rate has increased substantially in the past decades, causing slaughter weight to be attained sooner and increasing the representativeness of the first days of life. Prestarter diets are presently used in a variety of situations in poultry production and are interpreted as investment, not a cost in production. Studies to define the nutrient requirements in the prestarter period are seconded by the necessity to search for ingredients with high nutrient availability that will result in improved animal performance associated with good carcass quality. Alternative ingredients with excellent digestibility must be used in diets for newly hatched chicks, because their digestive system is not completely adapted to the digestion and absorption of feeds. This research evaluated the effects of alternative carbohydrate and protein sources in prestarter broiler chicken diets on the performance, digestive organ morphometry, and carcass composition and yield. The effects of different carbohydrate and protein sources found at the prestarter phase were not maintained in subsequent phases.

Key Words: carcass composition • newly hatched chick • performance • prestarter diet


   DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM
TOP
 SUMMARY
 DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM
MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
 CONCLUSIONS AND APPLICATIONS
 REFERENCES AND NOTES
 
Prestarter diet manipulation can modify chicken development [1]. Newly hatched chicks are less efficient than older birds in handling the nutrients contained in solid feeds, as a consequence of their immature digestive system [2, 3, 4]. Initial energy needs of the chick can be met by gluconeogenesis from corporal tissue. Prestarter diets that contain highly available carbohydrates and proteins can be used to avoid gluconeogenesis [5], contributing to maintain the body reserves.

Little is known about the effects of manipulation of nutrient sources in prestarter diets on the deposition of meat and fat in the carcass of chickens, but adequate protein availability in the prestarter phase seems to be essential to increase muscle development in later phases [6]. Newly hatched chicks have active satellite cells responsible for accumulation of nuclei in muscle fibers; some nutritional factors might affect these cells and contribute to modify the size of muscle fiber and the proportion of muscle in broilers [7, 8, 9]. In addition, early diet manipulation in chickens can modify their growth and fat accumulation [10]. In some species, excess feed intake in the beginning of life favors maturation and increased adipocyte numbers [11].

At the prestarter phase, the gastrointestinal tract undergoes morphological and physiological alterations until it reaches maturation. An adaptation period is necessary for the chicks to achieve the maximum capacity of digestion and absorption of nutrients. Feed consumption stimulates the development of the gastrointestinal tract and, consequently, digestion and absorption capacity [12]. Thus, it is possible that ingredients of high nutrient availability will benefit newly hatched chicks, which have immature gastrointestinal tracts.

Prestarter diets of high digestibility and high protein content can be used to meet the requirements of chicks in the first days of life and are considered an investment, not a cost, in poultry production [5]. The objective of this work was to evaluate the effects of different carbohydrate and protein sources, as well as their mixtures, included in prestarter diets on the performance, digestive organ morphometry, and carcass characteristics of broilers.


   MATERIALS AND METHODS
TOP
 SUMMARY
 DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
 CONCLUSIONS AND APPLICATIONS
 REFERENCES AND NOTES
 
An experiment was carried out using 1,260 male and female Cobb 1-d-old chicks [13], distributed in a completely randomized block design with half male and half female in each treatment, with 9 treatments and 4 replicates of 35 birds each. The experimental diets were offered at the prestarter phase (from 1 to 7 d) and consisted of the following: basal diet (BA), basal diet plus cassava starch (CS), basal diet plus sucrose (SU), basal diet plus corn gluten meal (CG), basal diet plus blood plasma (BP), basal diet plus corn gluten meal and sucrose (CG + SU), basal diet plus corn gluten meal and cassava starch (CG + CS), basal diet plus blood plasma and sucrose (BP + SU), and basal diet plus blood plasma and cassava starch (BP + CS, Table 1Go). Chicks were vaccinated at the hatchery against Marek’s disease. The lighting program was 24 h of light.


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  		Table 1. Composition and nutrient concentration of prestarter diets1
 
The experimental prestarter diets were formulated to meet the nutritional requirements [14]; the ME values of the alternative ingredients included were obtained in previous experiments with chicks [15, 16]. The alternative carbohydrates were added at a level of 20% of the total ME value of the basal diet. The alternative protein sources were added at a level of 20% of the CP value of the basal diet. The mixtures of alternative carbohydrate and protein sources contributed 20% of the ME and 20% of the CP in the prestarter diets.

After the prestarter phase, the birds of all treatments received a common diet formulated to meet the nutritional requirements [14] of starter, grower, and withdrawal phases (Table 2Go). Feed intake, weight gain, and feed:gain ratio of birds were determined weekly. At 7 d of age, 2 chicks, 1 male and 1 female, close to the average weight of each pen were selected, stunned, killed by cervical dislocation, and the gastrointestinal organs were removed. The relative weight [17] of the digestive organs and the length [18] and density [19] of the empty small intestine were determined.


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  		Table 2. Composition and nutritional values of starter (8 to 21 d), grower I (22 to 28 d), grower II (29 to 35 d), and withdrawal (36 to 42 d) diets
 
At 42 d, 3 male broilers per pen were slaughtered to determine the total carcass, breast, drumstick, and thigh yields and abdominal fat percentage. Deboned drumsticks and thighs were used to determine moisture, fat, and protein contents [20]. The data were analyzed [21], and the means were compared by Tukey test (P < 0.05).


   RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
TOP
 SUMMARY
 DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
CONCLUSIONS AND APPLICATIONS
 REFERENCES AND NOTES
 
Chicks from 1 to 7 d of age did not show any differences for live weight, feed intake, weight gain, and feed:gain ratio between alternative prestarter diets and the control group; however, some significant differences were observed among the chicks fed the alternative prestater diets. Chicks receiving sucrose in the diet had improved live weight and weight gain from 1 to 7 d of age relative to birds receiving corn gluten meal, blood plasma, and the corn gluten plus sucrose mixture (Table 3Go). The increased weight gain may have been associated with a greater feed intake (NS).


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  		Table 3. Performance of chicks from 1 to 7 d of age fed prestarter diets containing different carbohydrates and protein sources
 
Significant differences were observed in feed:gain ratio during the prestarter period. Chicks receiving cassava starch showed better feed:gain ratio than chicks that received the corn gluten meal plus sucrose or blood plasma plus sucrose mixture.

In a similar study, the addition of different carbohydrate sources such as glucose, sucrose, cornstarch, or cassava starch in the diet was shown to be beneficial for the performance of chicks from 1 to 7 d of age in relation to a basal corn-soy diet [22]. On the other hand, it has already been observed that ingredients such as blood plasma, isolated soybean protein, dried whole eggs, or corn gluten meal added to prestarter diets of chicks were detrimental to feed intake but not to weight gain [23].

At 7 d of age, no significant treatment differences were observed for proventriculus, gizzard, liver, and pancreas weights of chicks fed the different prestarter diets (Table 4Go). The small intestine of chicks was influenced by diet composition. Chicks fed blood plasma had the lower relative weight and length of the small intestine compared with those receiving cassava starch and basal, respectively.


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  		Table 4. Digestive organ morphometry of chicks at 7 d of age fed prestarter diets containing different carbohydrate and protein sources
 
When fed singly, the carbohydrate sources resulted in higher small intestine density compared with the protein sources, the difference being significant for corn gluten meal. In general, diets containing alternative carbohydrate sources resulted in improved development of the small intestine; this characteristic can be related to chick weight gain until 7 d of age. The effect of different ingredients on the development of gastrointestinal organs of chicks from 1 to 7 d of age has already been reported [3, 22]. Diets containing alternative carbohydrate sources caused changes in some aspects of the gastrointestinal tract, and the alterations were related to bird performance [22], whereas alterations promoted by alternative protein sources did not have relationship with chick performance in the prestarter phase [23].

No significant differences were observed in broiler feed intake during the starter phase, from 8 to 21 d of age (Table 5Go). However, chickens fed the corn gluten meal diet had a smaller live weight than those fed the basal diet. For these 2 treatments, the weight gain in starter phase can be associated with the feed intake; feed intake was 57 g lower for birds receiving the corn gluten meal diet, resulting in a 46-g decrease in weight gain compared with the control birds.


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  		Table 5. Performance of broilers from 1 to 42 d of age fed different diets in the prestarter phase
 
Improved feed:gain ratio was observed in broilers that received the blood plasma diet relative to those that received the sucrose diet; the other treatments provided intermediate results.

In grower (22 to 35 d) and withdrawal (36 to 42 d) phases and in the total period (1 to 42 d), no significant differences were detected in feed intake, weight gain, and feed:gain ratio of broilers fed different diets in the prestarter phase. The effects of addition of different protein and carbohydrate sources in the prestarter diet were not maintained during later rearing phases.

Carcass yield and composition (Table 6Go) were not different among treatments. Contrary to what was expected, the manipulation of prestarter diet composition did not result in changes in carcass characteristics analyzed at 42 d. Recent studies have emphasized the influence of external factors on the dynamics of satellite cells during the prestarter stage [7, 9, 24], which lead to changes in the yield of meat cuts and in the composition of tissues of broilers at slaughter. However, the results observed in the present work indicate that the dietary modifications applied at this phase were not sufficient in quality or quantity to influence the proportion of tissues. If some carcass modification occurs due to the diet at the prestarter phase, this change does not persist until slaughter age.


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  		Table 6. Carcass yield and carcass composition of broilers at 42 d of age fed different diets in the prestarter phase
 

   CONCLUSIONS AND APPLICATIONS
TOP
 SUMMARY
 DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
 CONCLUSIONS AND APPLICATIONS
REFERENCES AND NOTES
 
  1. The inclusion of alternative carbohydrate and protein sources in prestarter diets results in changes in performance and in the development of the small intestine of chicks until 7 d of age.
  2. Performance differences are not maintained through subsequent phases until 42 d of age, and carcass and parts yields are not affected at slaughter.


   FOOTNOTES
 
1 Research supported by Fundação de Amparo ã Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (00/04488-8). Back

2 Graduate student supported by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo scholarship. Back


   REFERENCES AND NOTES
TOP
 SUMMARY
 DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM
 MATERIALS AND METHODS
 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
 CONCLUSIONS AND APPLICATIONS
 REFERENCES AND NOTES
 

  1. Nir, I., and M. Levanon. 1993. Effect of posthatch holding time on performance and on residual yolk and liver composition. Poult. Sci. 72:1994–1997.[ISI]
  2. Batal, A. B., and C. M. Parsons. 2002. Effects of age on nutrient digestibility in chicks fed different diets. Poult. Sci. 81:400–407.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  3. Batal, A. B., and C. M. Parsons. 2003. Utilization of different soy products as affected by age in chicks. Poult. Sci. 82:454–462.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  4. Batal, A. B., and C. M. Parsons. 2004. Utilization of various carbohydrate sources as affected by age in the chick. Poult. Sci. 83:1140–1147.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  5. Lilburn, M. S. 1998. Practical aspects of early nutrition for poultry. J. Appl. Poult. Res. 7:420–424.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  6. Hargis, P. H., and C. R. Creger. 1980. Effects of varying dietary protein and energy levels on growth rate and body fat in broilers. Poult. Sci. 59:1499–1504.[ISI]
  7. Halevy, O., Y. Nadel, M. Barak, I. Rozenboim, and D. Sklan. 2003. Early posthatch feeding stimulates satellite cell proliferation and skeletal muscle growth in turkey poults. J. Nutr. 133:1376–1382.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  8. Mozdziak, P. E., T. J. Walsh, and D. W. McCoy. 2002. The effect of early posthatch nutrition on satellite cell mitotic activity. Poult. Sci. 81:1703–1708.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  9. Halevy, O., A. Geyra, M. Barak, Z. Uni, and D. Sklan. 2000. Early posthatch starvation decreases satellite cell proliferation and skeletal muscle growth in chicks. J. Nutr. 130:858–864.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  10. Akiba, Y., and H. Murakami 1995. Partitioning of energy and protein during early growth of broiler chicks and contribution of vitteline residues. Pages 46–52 in Proc. World Poult. Sci. Conf., Antalia, Turkey. World’s Poult. Sci. Assoc., Wallingford, Oxfordshire, UK.
  11. Penz, A. M., Jr., and S. L. Vieira. 1998. Nutrição na primeira semana. Pages 121–139 in Proc. Conf. Apinco’98 Ciênc. Tecnologia Avícola—Simpósio Int. Manejo Pintos Corte Primeira Sem., Campinas, Brazil. Fundação Apinco Ciênc. Tec. Avícolas, Campinas, Brazil.
  12. Noy, Y., and D. Sklan. 1997. Posthatch development in poultry. J. Appl. Poult. Res. 6:344–354.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  13. Agroceres, Rio Claro, SP, Brazil.
  14. Rostagno, H. S. Tabelas Brasileiras para Aves e Suínos—Composição de Alimentos e Exigências Nutricionais. Univ. Fed. Viçosa, Brazil.
  15. Longo, F. A., J. F. M. Menten, A. A. Pedroso, A. N. Figueiredo, J. O. B. Sorbara, J. B. Gaiotto, and A. M. C. Racanicci. 2005. Carboidratos na dieta pré-inicial de frangos de corte. Rev. Bras. Zootec. 34:123–133.
  16. Longo, F. A., J. F. M. Menten, A. A. Pedroso, A. N. Figueiredo, A. M. C. Racanicci, J. B. Gaiotto, and J. O. B. Sorbara. 2005. Diferentes fontes protéicas na dieta pré-inicial de frangos de corte. Rev. Bras. Zootec. 34:112–122.
  17. Relative weight = organ weight in grams/100 g of live weight.
  18. Centimeter.
  19. Density = small intestine weight in grams/small intestine length in centimeters.
  20. Ministério da Agricultura. 1998. Compendio Brasileiro de Nutrição Animal Ministério Agric., Campinas, Brazil.
  21. SAS Institute. 1998. SAS User’s Guide. Version 6.11 ed. SAS Inst. Inc., Cary, NC.
  22. Sorbara, J. O. B., J. F. M. Menten, F. A. Longo, A. A. Pedroso, A. N. Figueiredo, A. M. C. Racanicci, and J. B. Gaiotto. 2003. Effects of different carbohydrates in the feed of newly hatched chicks on performance and organs allometric growth. Poult. Sci. 82(Suppl. 1):67. (Abstr.)[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  23. Longo, F. A., J. F. M. Menten, J. O. B. Sorbara, A. A. Pedroso, A. N. Figueiredo, A. M. C. Racanicci, and J. B. Gaiotto. 2003. Effects of different protein sources in the feed of newly hatched chicks on broiler performance. Poult. Sci. 82(Suppl. 1):67. (Abstr.)[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  24. Halevy, O., A. Krispin, Y. Leshem, J. P. McMurtry, and S. Yahav. 2001. Early-age heat exposure affects skeletal muscle satellite cell proliferation and differentiation in chicks. Am. J. Physiol. Regul. Integr. Comp. Physiol. 281:R302–R309.[Abstract/Free Full Text]




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