The effect of grass pasture on the performance of slowly growing chickens

Abstract

The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of grass pasture on the performance of slowly growing chickens. Both sexes (72 chickens) of the slowly growing hybrid Hubbard JA 757 were used in the experiment, which was carried out in the summer 2015. The chickens were divided into two groups with six replications. After 34 days of age, half of the chickens were transferred to outdoor fields to the transferable cages (EXP). The second half of chickens stayed in the house in a controlled microclimate condition. The live weight of chickens at 63 days of age was 2.93 kg in the EXP and 3.14 kg in the CON, and there was no significant difgerence between the groups (P > 0.05). However, the live body gain between 34 and 63 days of ages was significantly affected by the pasture (P ≤ 0.01), and it was 2.02 kg in EXP and 2.45 kg in CON. Feed conversion ratio during the experimental period was also significantly different in the groups (P ≤ 0.01), 2.60 in EXP and 1.97 in CON. High average daily temperature 28.7 °C had a main negative effect on the performance of chickens.