Performance data for birds fed virginiamycin or butyrate
in experiment 1 are detailed in Table 2. Diet treatment
generally had no effect on body weight or weight
gain in either the starter or grower/finisher periods.
Birds consumed less starter feed when diets were supplemented
with virginiamycin or 0.4% butyrate relative to
the control birds (P < 0.01, Table 2). The reduction in
intake resulted in superior feed efficiency for birds fed
virginiamycin. The eviscerated carcasses from birds randomly
selected from within each treatment group were
consistently heavier compared with other treatments,
although this effect was not statistically significant.
Breast meat yield, both absolute weight and percentage
yield, was unaffected by diet treatment