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81033

PRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE, CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS AND MEAT QUALITY OF BROILER CHICKENS AT DIFFERENT MARKETING AGES

Article

Last updated: 03 Jan 2025

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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.

DOI

10.21608/epsj.2020.81033

Keywords

broiler, marketing age, performance, carcass quality

Authors

First Name

Mohammed

Last Name

Abougabal

MiddleName

Shehata

Affiliation

Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.

Email

mabogabal84@yahoo.com

City

Cairo

Orcid

0000-0001-6001-690X

Volume

40

Article Issue

1

Related Issue

10433

Issue Date

2020-01-01

Receive Date

2020-02-02

Publish Date

2020-03-19

Page Start

275

Page End

289

Print ISSN

1110-5623

Online ISSN

2090-0570

Link

https://epsj.journals.ekb.eg/article_81033.html

Detail API

https://epsj.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=81033

Order

17

Type

Original Article

Type Code

493

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Egyptian Poultry Science Journal

Publication Link

https://epsj.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

PRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE, CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS AND MEAT QUALITY OF BROILER CHICKENS AT DIFFERENT MARKETING AGES

Details

Type

Article

Created At

22 Jan 2023