How to Increase the Persistence of Egg Production in Broiler Breeders?
Published:September 22, 2021
Summary
Some breeder flocks have higher egg peak production, 92%, whereas other breeder flocks reach 82% at egg peak. On the other hand, some broiler breeders lay a good peak egg production, but as hens age, egg production descends more than expected. In this situation, how can we increase the persistence of egg production in broiler breeders? Breeder managers should evaluate the following four points fo...
One of the challenges in this regard is that the current breeder-recommended target BW is low for optimal reproductive performance. We need to relax the current feed restriction and concomitant growth restriction during the rearing phase to achieve an optimum body composition to support a long-time production period. In addition, modern broiler breeders are leaner and have less fat pad which needs to be optimized through an optimum growth trajectory. But the question is "What is an optimum target growth for breeders especially during the rearing phase?" Another important question is "How can maternal feeding program and growth trajectory can affect offspring performance?" We have discussed this and come to some ideas in our recent publications:
1. Afrouziyeh et al., 2021 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psj.2021.101375)
2. Afrouziyeh et al., 2021 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psj.2021.101090)
3. Zukiwsky et al., 2021 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psj.2020.09.081)
4. Zukiwsky et al., 2021 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psj.2021.01.016)