New insights into the associations among feed efficiency, metabolizable efficiency traits and related QTL regions in broiler chickens

Table 4 Means (±SD) for growth, feed efficiency, and metabolizable efficiency traits compared between the high- and low-RFI broiler chickens¹

Traits²	Low-RFI	High-RFI	Low-RFI /High-RFI, %³
RFI, g/d	−7.52 ± 2.71	8.17 ± 3.31^**	− 192.04
FCR, g:g	1.81 ± 0.06	1.99 ± 0.08^**	−9.05
ADFI, g/d	161.39 ± 13.13	175.02 ± 14.33^**	−7.79
BW28, g	1261.39 ± 112.43	1245.28 ± 81.29	1.29
BW42, g	2513.06 ± 174.62	2481.94 ± 166.53	1.25
ADG, g/d	89.40 ± 7.31	88.33 ± 9.53	1.21
DEW, g/d	38.63 ± 3.26	42.78 ± 4.04^**	−9.70
GEE, kcal/d	148.96 ± 12.91	162.95 ± 15.29^**	−8.59
CPE, g/d	11.10 ± 1.19	12.92 ± 1.40^**	−14.09
MDM, g/d	99.74 ± 8.31	107.28 ± 8.53^**	−7.03
AMEn, kcal/d	431.56 ± 35.86	467.73 ± 37.64^**	−7.73
MCP, g/d	18.00 ± 1.43	18.64 ± 1.51	−3.43
Coefficient of MDM, %	72.11 ± 0.86^**	71.52 ± 0.89	0.82
Coefficient of AMEn, %	71.44 ± 0.80	71.40 ± 0.73	0.06
Coefficient of MCP, %	61.97 ± 1.93^**	59.17 ± 2.21	4.73
AbF, g	27.03 ± 9.5	33.36 ± 11.4^*	−18.97
AbP, %	1.06 ± 0.34	1.34 ± 0.43^**	−20.90

¹low-RFI from male broilers with the 20% lowest RFI, n = 36 and high-RFI with the 20% highest RFI, n = 36; *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01
²RFI residual feed intake; FCR feed conversion ratio; ADFI average daily feed intake; BW28 body weight at 28 d of age; BW42 body weight at 42 d of age; ADG average daily gain; DEW dry excreta weight; GEE gross energy excretion; CPE, crude protein excretion; MDM metabolizable dry matter; AMEn nitrogen corrected apparent metabolizable energy; MCP metabolizable crude protein; AbF weight of abdominal fat; AbP percentage of abdominal fat
³Relative difference between low-RFI and high-RFI calculated as 100×(low-RFI mean/high-RFI mean − 1)

ISSN: 2049-1891