4th International Poultry Meat Congress

P 44 Evaluation of Slow-Growing Broiler in Three Rearing Systems:
Growth Performance and Animal Welfare
İbrahima Mahamane Abdourhamane, Melahat Özbek, Enver Çavuşoğlu, Metin Petek
Uludağ University, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Animal Science, Bursa,
Turkey
Abstract
The assessment of welfare in poultry under different rearing systems has gained an increasing
importance. At worldwide scale, the organic or free-range rearing systems are examined in
relation to improving poultry welfare and the quality of poultry production. In several developed
countries the demand for meat from these rearing systems is continually increasing. In this study,
an experiment with three rearing systems was conducted to evaluate growth performance and
animal welfare of slow growing broiler. In total, 150 one-day-old Hubbar JA-57 slow-growing
broilers were randomly placed in indoor system without access to outdoor, indoor with free
range access to grassland (free range) and in slatted floor. Each rearing system was represented
by 5 replicates containing 10 chickens (50 chickens per rearing system). Rearing system did not
affect final body weight, weight gain and feed conversion ratio but did influence feeding intake
(P=0.08).The free range and the indoor system had significantly more footpad dermatitis (FPD)
than slatted system (P=0.001). However the slatted floor system had significantly more hock
burn (P=0.008).Significantly more clean chickens was observed (P=0.03) in slatted floor and
free range system. It was revealed that the production system had no impact on the fearfulness
(P>0.05).These results demonstrated the free range as the suitable condition of rearing of slowgrowing
broiler.
Key words: slatted floor, slow growing broiler, welfare, growth performance.
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