The Effect of Meal Feeding on Small Intestine Weight

Two trials were conducted using feed forms of pellets and mash to determine whether parts of the digestive tract (small intestine) were enlarged by meal feeding. Results obtained show that meal feeding of broilers significantly increases small intestine weight for both mash and pellet broiler groups when compared with continuously fed broilers. The body weight, feed conversion, and mortality did not differ between the continuous-fed versus meal-fed groups. Pelleting the diet during the growing period (3 to 6 wk of age) significantly improved both growth rate and feed conversion of broilers.