Effect of Pelletized Diets and the Proportion of Fines on Performance of Broilers Raised in High-Density Conditions

The objective of the study was to evaluate some important parameters regarding production and welfare, as well as performance, uniformity, carcass yield and foot-pad lesions of broilers fed mash or pelleted diets with different concentrations and raised in different density conditions. The experimental design consisted of a 3 × 2 factorial scheme (3 diets: mash feed, pelleted feed with 50% of fines, and pelleted feed with 30% of fines vs. 2 stocking densities: 13 and 15 birds/m2) with six replications, totaling 1,746 male Cobb chicks. Besides the weight of the birds and feed intake for each replicate assessed weekly to evaluate performance, at 7 and 42 d of age all birds were individually weighed to assess uniformity within each replicate. Moreover, 12 birds/treatment were slaughtered to assess the yield for carcass and commercial cuts. To assess the incidence of food-pad dermatitis (FPD), all birds were evaluated for lesion score at 21 and 42 d of age. The intake of pelleted diets resulted in greater body weight gain and better feed conversion ratio in the first week. The reduction of stocking density resulted in greater weights of carcasses, legs, and wings as well as wing yield at the 46th day but did not alter FPD incidence. The performance during the grower/finisher phase and during all production phases was not affected by diet and stocking density, despite the greater performance that was observed for chicks supplemented with pelleted and ground diets in the starter phase.