Effects of different housing systems on performance, meat quality and muscular histological characteristics of broilers.

The effects of three housing systems on performance,meat quality and muscular histological characteristics of broilers were investigated.Four hundred and eighty 21-day-old healthy male Arbor Acres (AA) broilers with the similar weight of (367.66±1.12) g were randomly assigned to one of the three housing systems:net-rearing and floor-rearing with or without outdoor access.Straws were used as the bedding of broilers in floor-rearing with or without outdoor access.Four pens were placed in a rearing pattern containing forty birds each,and a pen was a replicate.The experiment ended at 49 days of age.The results showed as follows:1) there were no significant differences in the average daily feed intake of the broilers among three treatments (P0.05),while the broilers in floor-rearing with outdoor access showed higher mortality and feed to gain ratio (P0.05),and the average daily weight gain was lower than that in net-rearing (P0.05);2) the abdominal fat proportion of the broilers in floor-rearing with outdoor access was significantly lower than that in the other two groups (P0.05),the shear force was significantly higher than that in the other two groups (P0.05),and breast muscle fiber diameter was the largest in the three treatments,followed by that of broilers in floor-rearing without outdoor access,and then in net-rearing (P0.05),but as to the muscle fiber density it was in reverse order;there were no significant differences in pH,drop lose,intramuscular fat (IMF) and insine monphosphate (IMP) of breast muscle among the three housing systems (P0.05).The results suggest that among the three housing systems,the broilers in floor-rearing with outdoor access show lower performance,lower abdominal fat proportion,thicker breast muscle fiber and harder meat.