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. 2020 Jun 20;99(9):4442–4453. doi: 10.1016/j.psj.2020.05.023

Table 2.

Effect of guanidinoacetic acid (GAA) supplementation on BW, ADG, ADFI, feed-to-gain ratio (F:G), mortality, European Production Efficiency Factor (EPEF), and panting in male broilers subjected to chronic cyclic heat stress in the finisher phase.1

Item
 Dietary treatment
 Pooled SEM P-value
Supplemental GAA, g/kg 0.0 0.6 1.2 Model Linear Quadratic
Day 0 to 10 (starter)
 Initial BW, g 48.1 48.1 48.1 0.05 0.993 0.921 0.954
 Final BW, g 344 339 341 1.8 0.625 0.563 0.440
 ADG, g/D 29.4 29.5 29.3 0.18 0.627 0.687 0.383
 ADFI, g/D 29.9 29.5 29.5 0.11 0.188 0.137 0.283
 F:G 1.02 1.02 1.01 0.005 0.858 0.664 0.735
 Mortality, % 1.3 1.3 0.8 - 0.855 - -
Day 10 to 25 (grower)
 Final BW, g 1,555 1,540 1,547 5.3 0.500 0.520 0.326
 ADG, g/D 80.5 80.0 80.3 0.30 0.771 0.797 0.504
 ADFI, g/D 109a 107a,b 106b 0.4 0.022 0.006 0.705
 F:G 1.35a 1.34a 1.32b 0.004 0.001 <0.001 0.575
 Mortality, % 2.1 0.9 0.8 - 0.470 - -
Day 0 to 25
 ADG, g/D 59.2 59.0 59.5 0.25 0.749 0.656 0.541
 ADFI, g/D 76.8 75.8 75.3 0.27 0.067 0.025 0.580
 F:G 1.30a 1.29a,b 1.27b 0.004 0.002 0.001 0.730
 Mortality, % 3.3 2.1 1.7 - 0.522 - -
Day 25 to 39 (finisher)
 Final BW, g 3,018 3,064 3,032 15.5 0.475 0.716 0.247
 ADG, g/D 103 107 105 1.1 0.228 0.449 0.123
 ADFI, g/D 180a 178a,b 174b 0.9 0.027 0.008 0.725
 F:G 1.76a 1.66b 1.67b 0.014 0.002 0.003 0.043
 Mortality, % 6.1 4.7 3.4 - 0.375 - -
Day 0 to 39
 ADG, g/D 75.3 76.7 76.4 0.40 0.340 0.299 0.298
 ADFI, g/D 111 110 109 0.4 0.129 0.045 0.949
 F:G 1.48a 1.44b 1.43b 0.005 <0.001 <0.001 0.047
 Mortality, % 9.2 6.7 5.0 - 0.329 - -
 EPEF2 476b 510a,b 517a 7.1 0.036 0.016 0.337
Panting, #/min
 Day 27 185 160 160 6.5 0.202 0.122 0.366
 Day 38 190 185 163 5.0 0.062 0.028 0.392
 Mean (day 27, day 38) 187 173 162 4.4 0.055 0.017 0.839

a,bMeans within the row lacking a common superscript letter differ (P <0.05).

1

Broilers were fed a corn–soybean starter diet from day 0 to 10, a grower diet from day 10 to 25, and a finisher diet from day 25 to 39. Values are means of 12 replicate pens of 20 chickens.

2

European Production Efficiency Factor: viability day 0-39 (%) ∗ BW day 39 (kg) ∗ 100/age (D) ∗F:G day 0–39.