Abstract

An experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design to study the effect of physical feed restriction on broilers’ performance during the starter period. Two hundred and forty one-day-old unsexed (Hubbard) broiler chicks were randomly distributed in six treatments; there were five replicates with eight chicks per a replicate. Treatment A:  fed ad libitum (control). Restricted groups were restricted at selected percentages of the ad libitum intake of the full fed controls. The percentages were: B= 90%, C= 80%, D= 70%, E= 60% and F= 50%.  Feed restriction was applied from 8-28 days of age. The experiment lasted for six weeks. Control birds showed significantly (p<0.05) higher  body weight and carcass cuts weight than restricted ones. Feed conversion ratio was not affected by feed restriction regimen applied in the present study. Restricted birds failed to compensate for the loss in weight due to prolonged feed restriction period.

Key words: Broiler chicks, performance, physical feed restriction, starter period.