Table 2.
Effect of incubator tray location on post-hatch growth performance of broiler chickens reared to 41 d of age.
| Variable1 | Incubator tray location |
SEM | P-value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bottom | Middle | Top | |||
| FI, g | 4,937 | 4,939 | 4,927 | 68 | 0.991 |
| BWG, g | 3,269 | 3,290 | 3,300 | 51 | 0.906 |
| FCR | 1.513 | 1.515 | 1.511 | 0.026 | 0.993 |
| Mortality, % | 5.0 | 3.7 | 3.3 | 0.014 | 0.668 |
Abbreviations: BWG, mortality-corrected BW gain; FI, mortality-corrected feed intake; FCR, mortality-corrected feed conversion ratio; SEM, largest pooled standard error of the pairwise mean comparisons.
1
Broilers from eggs incubated in different incubator tray locations all received a common corn and soybean meal–based diet provided in 3 phases: starter (day 1–13), grower (day 14–33), and finisher (day 34–41). Pen served as the experimental unit with 20 replicate pens (12 birds per pen) per treatment.