Effect of duration of early-age thermal conditioning of broiler chickens on production and heat tolerance (original) (raw)
The main objective of the study was to investigate the appropriate duration of early age thermal conditioning that would improve heat tolerance in broiler chickens with a minimum reduction in production performance. 200 commercial Hubbard broiler chicks were randomly allocated to five treatments. Each of the five treatments was replicated four times, with 10 chicks per replicate in a completely randomized design (CRD). The treatments consisted of birds exposed to air temperature of 37 ± 1 oC for 3, 6, 12 and 24 hrs at 4 days of age against the control that was raised under standard conditions (35 oC in week 1, and reduced by 3 oC every week until room temperature. Temperatures were reduced by raising the positions of infrared lamps until the desired air temperatures were reached. Early age thermal conditioning significantly (P 0.05) in feed conversion ratio (FCR) between thermal conditioned birds and the control. Birds exposed to 12 and 24 hours of thermal conditioning had a signif...
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