ABSTRACT An experiment was conducted to study
the effect of broiler breeder feeding management practices
on pullet performance, BW uniformity, and carcass
traits during rearing (to 22 wk of age). At 3 wk
of age, 1,200 Ross 308 breeder pullets were assigned to
one of 5 treatments: 1) control: standard mash diet, fed
daily; 2) high fiber: mash diet containing 25% lower
nutrient density, fed daily; 3) scatter: standard diet in
pellet form scattered on litter, fed daily; 4) skip-a-day:
standard mash diet, fed on alternate days; or 5) grading:
standard mash diet, fed daily (birds sorted into low,
average, and high BW groups every 4 wk). Birds on the
high fiber treatment consumed more feed (P < 0.0001)
and had the highest feed conversion ratio (FCR; P <
0.004) but the lowest ME to gain and CP to gain ratios
(P ≤ 0.002). Skip-a-day treatment pullets consumed
more ME and CP than birds in any other treatment
(P < 0.001). Grading yielded the highest BW
uniformity at 22 wk of age (CV = 6.2%), while control
and high fiber treatment groups were least uniform
(CV > 15%; P < 0.0001). Skip-a-day feed restriction
produced birds with the significantly lowest
breast muscle and highest liver weight compared to all
other treatments (P < 0.05). Variation in shank length,
chest width, and breast muscle was lowest in the grading
treatment, whereas the CV for fat pad and liver was
lowest in the skip-a-day treatment. In this trial, broiler
breeder target BW profiles were achieved using combinations
of quantitative and qualitative feed restriction,
or preemptive management practices. Qualitative diet
dilution and skip-a-day management did little to increase
flock uniformity relative to the control during
the most intense period of feed restriction (7 to 19 wk).
Scatter feeding increased flock uniformity to a small
degree, whereas grading yielded the highest increase in
BW and carcass trait uniformity.