Mechanical defeathering, which is preceded by immersion in hot water (‘scalding’) to facilitate plucking. Two stages of processing are particularly problematic: 1. Vertical integration in the broiler industry has increased efficiency even more by combining most of the activities in producing, processing, and marketing broilers under the same ownership and management.īroiler chickens and other poultry pose a greater problem owing to the high degree of mechanization required for processing birds at rates that satisfy public demand. Vaccines, antibiotics, confinement rearing, and computer-balanced rations assist in producing broilers with a feed conversion ratio of less than 2 kg of feed per kg gain. Advances in breeding, nutrition, disease control, and management practices have enabled the broiler industry to produce a chicken weighing 1.8 kg in 6–7 weeks. Many factors have contributed to the efficiency and economics of broiler production. White-feathered birds are the norm for commercial broiler production because of their cleaner-looking defeathered carcasses. A common broiler strain combines Cornish genes for conformation and fleshing with the White Plymouth Rock for white feathers and faster growth. Maurer, in Encyclopedia of Food Sciences and Nutrition (Second Edition), 2003 Economics of Fast-Growing Broiler ChickensĬhicken broilers have been bred to a uniform size specifically for meat yield. The relative weights of the kidney, pancreas and gizzard were increased, but the weights of the liver and the Bursa of Fabricius were decreased.Ī.J. The mortality rate was low at 0.5 mg/kg but increased to 88% at 1 mg/kg. The growth rate of turkeys fed 0.5 mg AFB1/kg feed was suppressed in two different studies by 19% and 18%, respectively ( Kubena et al., 1991 Hamilton et al., 1972).

Turkeys are more sensitive to AFB1 than broiler chickens, and they were involved in the first described aflatoxicosis cases in England in 1960.

The relationship between dietary AFB1 and decreased weight gain in broilers has been compared using 10 feeding studies it was calculated that a 5% decrease in weight gain can be expected at 1 mg AFB1/kg feed ( Dersjant-Li et al., 2003).

Fatty liver damage and hypocarotenoidemia are observed at low AFB1 concentrations in maize-fed broilers ( Doerr et al., 1983 Edds, 1973 Smith and Hamilton, 1970). Decreased growth rate, feed efficiency, enlarged liver, spleen and pancreas, and a regression of the Bursa of Fabricius have been seen in chickens fed ≥ 1 ppm AFB1 ( Richardson et al., 1987 Smith and Hamilton, 1970). Several cases of aflatoxicosis in broiler chickens have been reported. Pettersson, in Animal Feed Contamination, 2012 Aflatoxin – maizeīroiler chickens are susceptible to the toxic effects of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) in their feed.

Cornish cross weight gain chart