Carcass and meat quality of broiler chicken as affected by 24-h-cycle sequential feeding

The sequential feeding is a program which consists of administering diets with different nutrient contents for one ore more days cycles. The aim of this trial was to verify the effect of 24-h cycle sequential feeding on the quality of broiler meat as well as incidence of foot pad dermatitis. A total of 1,320 one-d-old male chicks Cobb 700 were divided in 2 groups of six replicates each. From 1 to 10 d of age all the chickens received the same pre-starter diet (EM 3,060 kcal/kg; CP 226 g/kg). The control group (CON) received for all day long, starter (EM 3,160 kcal/kg; CP 204.8 g/kg), grower (EM 3,220 kcal/kg; CP 191.8 g/kg) and finisher diets (EM 3,240 kcal/kg; CP 183.6 g/kg) respectively from 11-18, 19-38 and 39-44 d. The sequential feeding group (SF) received the same diets of the control for half-day and, for the remaining half, isoenergetic low protein diets (-20%). The breast of SF birds showed a lower pHu (5.76 vs 5.91; P<0.01), a higher cooking losses (28 vs 22%; P<0.01) and a lower lipid content (2.49 vs 3.08%; P<0.05). The incidence of birds with foot pad lesion scored 1 resulted lower in SF group (7 vs 13 %).