Effects of early feeding on yield, humoral and cellular immunity in broilers

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of early nutrition on performance, humoral and cellular immunity in broilers. This experiment was conducted by use of 480 male broiler chicks (Ross 308) were randomly allocated in a completely randomized balanced design with eight treatments and four replicates and 15 birds in each replicate for 42 days. The experimental treatments were included: Normal Water + Base Diet for first 72 Hours, Normal Water + Corn Powder first 48 Hours, Water Sugar 5% + Corn Powder first 48 Hours, Water Sugar 5% + Corn Powder first 72 Hours, Water Sugar 5% + Base Diet first 48 Hours, Water Sugar 5% + basic diet for the first 72 hours, gluplus + corn meal for the first 48 hours and gluplus + basal diet for the first 48 hours. The results showed that nutritional treatments had no significant effect on antibody response against sheep red blood cells on days 21 and 42 (P>0.05). The highest average weights of 6- and 7-week old obtained in gluplus+basal diets by 2699.3 and 2827.9 grams, respectively, which did not have a significant difference with normal water + basal diet (2508.5 and 2693.2 grams) (P>0.05). According to the results of this study, nutritional treatment of water with 5% sugar and base diet is recommended due to higher daily gain, lower mortality and better production index in the first 48 hours of feeding broiler chicks.