Pre-laying Nutritional and Environmental Factors in the Performance of the Adult Fowl

UNTIL recent years it has been generally accepted that the growing pullet “adapt” and “re-adapt” to a wide range of “normal” nutritional and environmental conditions which, therefore, have only minor effects on her productive or reproductive performance. That this concept is at least in part erroneous has been amply demonstrated by the number of reports appearing in the literature concerning the influence of restricted feeding on productive and reproductive performance of the fowl and other species (Gowe et al., 1960). Hollands and Gowe (1961) demonstrated that not only were pullets able to respond to restricted feed intake during development with increased egg production during their first year of lay but were also able to maintain a production record 8.2% greater than the full fed group during the second production year. This marked physiological effect they attributed to the stimulation of a more optimal development of the endocrine system of birds …