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This experiment was to study the effects of newly harvested corn on growth performance, intestine development and metabolism of nutrients in broilers. A total of 380 one-day-old Arbor Acres male broilers were assigned to ageing corn group (AC group), 1/3 newly harvested corn group (1/3 NC group), 2/3 newly harvested corn group (2/3 NC group), and newly harvested corn group (NC group), which according to the proportion of newly harvested corn in the total amount of corn of basal diets. Each group included six replicates with 16 birds. Digestion and metabolism trials were conducted at 39 to 42 days of age. Results showed that feed: gain ratio (F/G) of NC group was higher than that of 1/3 NC group and 2/3 NC group at 22 to 42 and 1 to 42 days of age (p

To investigate the effects of Clostridium butyricum (C. butyricum) on breast muscle lipid metabolism of broilers, 192 one-day-old male Arbor Acres broilers were randomly allocated into 2 treatments with 6 replicates in a completely randomised design. The broilers were fed corn-soybean meal-based diets and supplemented with 0 or 1 × 109 cfu of C. butyricum/kg of diet for 42 days. The birds in the C. butyricum-supplemented group showed higher (p

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of crude protein (CP) levels on growth performance, carcase quality, meat quality, immune indices, litter and faeces quality, as well as welfare quality, in free-range yellow broilers using balanced amino acid technology. In total, 600 one-d-old Suqin yellow broilers were raised for 21 d. On d 22, 540 birds with similar BW (390 ± 7 g SD) were randomly selected and placed into 9 pens (3 groups with 3 replicates per group and 60 birds each replicate) and then reared to 56 d of age. The birds were fed a diet containing CP 19% (control), 18% or 17% (measured value: 18.878%, 17.881%, 17.052%, respectively), in three groups for 35 d. The results revealed that decreasing dietary CP levels from 19% to 17% had no impact on broiler growth performance, carcase quality and meat quality (p > .05). The relative immune organ weights also showed no change to the lowering of dietary CP levels (p > .05), whereas serum albumin was significantly influenced by decreasing dietary CP levels (p = .042). Furthermore, nitrogen content in litter and faeces, as well as the footpad dermatitis score for welfare indices, were decreased with decreased dietary CP levels (p = .009, p = .014, p = .045, respectively). The results of this study suggest that low-protein diets with balanced amino acids reduce nitrogen excretion and footpad dermatitis without effecting the performance, carcase quality, and meat quality of free-range yellow broilers.