Table 3.
Body weight, carcass weight, breast muscle weights and weight/or length of visceral organs at day 35 of age in broiler chicks subjected to different thermal manipulation protocols during embryonic life (ED12–18)
| Parameters | Groups | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Control | TM1 | TM2 | TM3 | TM4 | |
| Body weight | 2222.98 ± 65.68a | 2426.64 ± 70.39b | 2425.78 ± 17.29b | 2216.22 ± 85.39a | 2220.37 ± 69.66a |
| Carcass weight | 1423.90 ± 69.46a | 1568.87 ± 24.83b | 1569.27 ± 16.36b | 1521.52 ± 06.69c | 1515.92 ± 06.75c |
| Breast muscle weight | 493.05 ± 28.98a | 571.07 ± 08.45b | 563.02 ± 20.10b | 580.54 ± 54.39b | 584.75 ± 40.09b |
| Breast muscle weight/ Carcass weight % | 34.62 ± 00.44a | 37.12 ± 01.04b | 36.81 ± 00.81b | 37.62 ± 00.90b | 38.55 ± 01.02b |
| Heart weight | 13.41 ± 00.87a | 15.57 ± 00.80b | 15.54 ± 00.70b | 14.68 ± 01.62a | 14.53 ± 01.76a |
| Lung weight | 13.46 ± 00.01 | 12.58 ± 00.13 | 13.08 ± 00.50 | 13.24 ± 01.06 | 12.30 ± 02.12 |
| Spleen weight | 2.26 ± 00.25 | 2.45 ± 00.45 | 2.44 ± 00.10 | 2.33 ± 00.94 | 01.92 ± 00.47 |
| Liver weight | 47.15 ± 02.25a | 56.00 ± 03.47b | 54.57 ± 02.71b | 52.60 ± 06.73b | 51.52 ± 02.26b |
| Intestine weight | 127.11 ± 06.93 | 130.40 ± 10.85 | 132.22 ± 05.06 | 131.82 ± 00.69 | 124.27 ± 06.09 |
| Gizzard weight | 47.69 ± 03.03a | 45.51 ± 00.13a | 42.50 ± 01.87a | 59.55 ± 06.61b | 46.84 ± 01.92a |
| Intestine length | 167.33 ± 02.31 | 171.33 ± 04.73 | 164.67 ± 01.53 | 165.50 ± 03.54 | 165.67 ± 04.40 |
| Cecum length | 17.00 ± 01.00 | 16.57 ± 00.58 | 17.00 ± 01.00 | 19.33 ± 01.15 | 17.03 ± 01.00 |
| Colon length | 20.33 ± 02.02a | 16.67 ± 00.58b | 16.00 ± 01.00b | 18.67 ± 01.53a | 16.67 ± 00.58b |
TM: Thermal manipulation
a-c Within the same row, means ± SD with different superscripts differ significantly (P < 0.05)