Table 2.

Effect of heat stress and stocking density on the growth performance of growing broiler chickens from 21 to 35 days of age.

Item		Initial Body Weight (g)	Final Body Weight (g)	Body Weight Gain (g)	Feed Intake (g)	Feed Efficiency (g/kg)
Temperature 1	SD 2
Thermoneutral	9	891	1918	1028	1902	540
	18	886	1776	890	1799	494
Heat stress	9	895	1701	806	1666	483
	18	883	1651	768	1583	486
SEM (n = 5)		6.1	32.7	35.3	27.9	14.0
Main effect
Temperature
Thermoneutral		888	1847	959	1851	517
Heat stress		889	1676	787	1624	484
SEM (n = 10)		4.3	23.1	25.0	19.7	9.9
SD
9		893	1810	917	1784	511
18		884	1713	829	1691	490
SEM (n = 10)		4.3	23.1	25.0	19.7	9.9
p-Value	df
Temperature	1	0.861	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001	0.034
SD	1	0.172	0.009	0.025	0.004	0.139
Temperature × SD	1	0.556	0.177	0.178	0.720	0.103

¹ Average ambient temperatures were 20 °C and 27.8 °C for thermoneutral conditions and heat stress conditions, respectively. ² Stocking density = number of birds per square meter (birds/m²).