Vol. 8, Special Issue 4 (2023)

An on-farm experiment was designed to examine the impact of varied feeding frequencies on the growth performance and carcass characteristics of broiler chicks. Four hundred day-old broiler chicks were allocated randomly in a completely randomized arrangement to four treatment groups T₁, T₂, T₃, and T₄ where feeding frequencies for these groups were set at four times, three times, two times, and one time per day, respectively. All chicks were exclusively provided with a commercially formulated balanced broiler diet throughout the study. Results indicated that the best feed intake was achieved among birds subjected to the feeding regime of T₄. In terms of Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR), T₁ and T₂ exhibited significantly improved performance compared to the other groups. Notably, the analysis of carcass attributes revealed that T₂ had notably reduced abdominal fat content (p<0.05) when compared to the control group. Additionally, blood analyses highlighted that levels of cholesterol, LDL, and HDL were significantly better in T₁ and T₂ compared to the remaining groups. The findings collectively suggest that providing broiler chicks with three feedings spaced at equal intervals leads to improved meat quality attributes, concurrently lowering abdominal fat levels without compromising chick growth progress.