Free-range systems provide an outdoor range for broilers to give them the possibility to express a higher frequency and a wider range of behaviours, such as exploration, compared with those raised indoors. Greater variability in outdoor range use between individuals of the same flock is often reported.
Data from breeder hens and chicks are particularly critical for the development of vitamin B2 recommendations for organic poultry. To test safe thresholds of supplementation, 100 breeder hens (Hubbard JA 57 K) and ten cockerels were allocated to ten housing groups, with each receiving supplementation of either 4.0 (treatment CON) or 2.5 mg (treatment RED) riboflavin per kg feed. After 15 weeks of experimental feeding, 256 eggs were incubated.
RELACS - Improving inputs for organic farming - Data from breeder hens and chicks are particularly critical for the development of vitamin B2 recommendations for organic poultry.
A healthy intestinal system in broilers is important to ensure optimal growth and lower mortality. Adding lactic acid bacteria to drinking water or feeding maize silage, could improve performance and have a positive effect on the digestibility of nutrients.
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L’istituto di ricerca FIBL, partner del progetto ‘Organic Farm Knowledge’, ha messo a punto cinque nuovi strumenti che mettono in evidenza quali sono gli aspetti che rendono vincente un allevamento di pollame biologico.
Questi cinque strumenti sono ora disponibili per il download nell’ambito del progetto. Attraverso di loro è possibile saperne di più sulle galline ovaiole allevate all’aperto, sui modi per controllare gli endoparassiti e indurre la muta, nonché su come allevare polli da carne biologici. Riportiamo di seguito i documenti.
Switching poultry rations from 95 % to 100 % organic feed can lead to a reduction in the use of home-grown and regional feed. Currently, conventional maize gluten and conventional potato protein are replaced by organic oilcake (soya, sunflower, rapeseed, sesame). Oilcake has a comparatively low content of important amino acids such as methionine and so higher proportions of oilcake must be used. This can lead to further reductions in the use of regionally produced and home-grown feed components such as cereals.
Organic broilers grow slower than conventional birds and so producers face the challenge of feeding quality feed components at lower concentrations. Feed needs to fulfil the amino acid and energy requirements of broilers for efficient growth and development, but growth is slower. Choice of feeding, access to range and forages can increase the utilisation of protein and energy, which will increase feed efficiency. The requirements for birds to use the range area is part of the solution.