Nutrition of broiler breeders:
The main characteristic of broiler breeders is their ability to gain high weights, if they are allowed to consume feed ad-libitum, and the extra weight will lead to the accumulation of fat in the abdominal cavity of the female, which may cause deterioration in the efficiency of fertile eggs production, the main goal of raising broiler breeders. The increase in males’ weights will, inevitably, lead to a decrease in their vitality and sexual activity, which may cause mating failure and thus poor fertility and a decrease in hatchability. Therefore, it depends on the rationing of feed quantities provided after the first week of life for females and at the age of 3 or 4 weeks for males until the end of the productive life of the flock (60 - 65 weeks).
Diets are provided in all stages and periods from beginning up to the depletion in form of mash or crumbles. The daily feed quantities are increased or stabilized every week after weighing the birds, based on their average weights.
Diets formulated and published in this presentation, are compatible with the nutritional requirements of most heavy commercial breeds of broiler breeders, and are applied and tested in many poultry farms in Syria, and gave good results.