Impact of early feeding on growth and meat quality in fast- and slower-growing broiler strains

Although early nutrition has gained increasing interest in the poultry industry, the long-term effects of early access to both feed and water post-hatch on broiler chicken meat quality parameters remain underexplored. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of three distinct feed and water deprivation periods post-hatch on meat quality parameters at slaughter in both fast growing and slower-growing broilers. A total of 960 Ross 308 and 960 Hubbard Redbro broilers were hatchery hatched and randomly allocated in the hatcher to three treatment groups in which access to feed and water was provided immediately (T0), 24 h (T1) or 48 h (T2) post-hatch. Slaughter and cut yields, breast meat colour, pH, drip, thawing and cooking loss and shear force were measured at slaughter. Breast muscle myopathies (wooden breast and white striping) were scored for prevalence and severity. For the fast growing broilers, T2 birds had lower body weight (BW) compared to T0 (p = 0.011) and T1 (p = 0.045). T0 fast growing birds showed higher breast fillet yields (p = 0.015), but lower thigh (p = 0.018) and drumstick (p = 0.037) yields compared to T2 birds. Furthermore, a treatment effect was observed in the fast growing broilers for both wooden breast (p = 0.047) and white striping (p = 0.065) myopathies, with T0 broilers showing the highest prevalence for both. Additionally, higher L* values (p = 0.017) as well as greater drip loss (p = 0.025) and cooking loss (p = 0.039) were recorded in T0 compared to T2 fast growing birds. The shear force of the breast meat of the fast growing broilers also tended to be higher for T0 than for T2 (p = 0.069). In contrast, in the slower-growing broilers, significant effects were only observed for BW and carcass yield, with higher BW (p = 0.006) and carcass yield (p = 0.012) for T0 compared to T2 birds. In conclusion, early feeding immediately post hatching increased body weight and carcass yield at slaughter in both the fast and slower-growing genotype. It also deteriorated meat quality in fast growing broilers, but not in slower-growing broilers.