Growth Performance of Egg-Type Pullets Subjected to Dry and Wet Feeding Regimes

Clarita  T. Dagaas,; Chaddie  M. Macapala,

Growth Performance of Egg-Type Pullets Subjected to Dry and Wet Feeding Regimes

Abstract:

The growing performance of egg-type pullets subjected to dry and wet feeding regimes from days 22-105 was studied using 90 three weeks-old pullet chicks. The chicks were weighed and randomly distributed to nine cages following a completely randomized design in three replications. The treatment groups were as follows: Treatment 1 (dry feeding), Treatment 2 (semi-wet feeding done by adding 25 ml water /100g feed), Treatment 3 (wet feeding done by adding 50 ml water per 100g feed). The chicks did not show significant differences (p<0.05) in the initial, weekly and final live weights. Among the treatment groups, the semi-wet fed birds had live weights closest to that of the strain standard. The most important criteria of pullet quality include uniformity in live weight within flock and proper live weight at specific age. Weight uniformity did not differ among treatments (p>0.05). Overall feed consumption of the three treatment groups was higher than that of the standard. Thus, their feed conversion efficiencies were poorer (4.75-4.78) compared to that of the standard (4.53). Similarly, no significant differences (p>0.05) were observed in the live weight gain and feed conversion efficiency among treatments. Income over feed and chick costs was lowest with the semi-wet fed group due to lower harvest recovery rate.