Effects of duration of feed restriction on compensatory growth of Leghorn cockerels

Abstract Rossi, J.E. and Loerch, S.C. 2002. Effects of duration of feed restriction on compensatory growth of Leghorn cockerels. J. Appl. Anim. Res., 22: 273–280. Effects of duration of feed restriction on growth of Leghorn cockerels was studied. Three-hundred sixty 7d-old Leghorn cockerels were allotted to 36 pens with 10 cockerels per pen. Treatments were ad libitum consumption of feed (AL) or feed intake was restricted to 80% of ad libitum intake for two (R-2), five (R-5), or eight (R-8) wk, followed by ad libitum feeding for the remainder of the experiment. Overall average daily gain (ADG) was greatest for birds in the AL (16.3 g/d) feeding regimen, intermediate for birds in the R-2 (15.8 g/d) regimen and lowest for birds in the R-5 (14.7 g/d) and R-8 (14.6 g/d) regimens (P<0.01). Daily dry matter intake (DMI) was greatest for birds in the R-2 feeding regimen, intermediate for birds in the R-5 regimen and lowest for birds in the AL and R-8 regimens (P<0.01). Feed efficiency was greatest (P<0.01) for b...