Genotype x feeding regimen interactions in free-range chicken production

Abstract

Poultry meat production in semi-intensive management systems is an ecological modality that takes into account aspects related to animal welfare. Campero chicken is a bird with a slower growth rate than commercial broilers destined to the production of meat in this type of systems. The traditional feeding scheme includes the use of three types of food specially formulated for this purpose (starter, grower and finisher) which introduces management complications, particularly in relation to the availability of grower food for small producers. An alternative that would facilitate feeding management is a scheme based on only two types of food: starter and finisher. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of changing the traditional feeding scheme by an alternative one, replacing grower food with a mix of starter and finisher, in two genotypes of chicken with a different growth rate: the experimental three-way cross Campero Casilda and the two-way cross Campero INTA. The evidence indicates that the proposed change in the traditional feeding management does not affect body growth, feed conversion ratio and productive traits at slaughter, and that both genetic groups behave similarly, when grower diet is replaced by a mix of starter and finisher.