Abstract
In production systems for dual-purpose chicken both sexes might be raised together during the first weeks, before males are separated during their final fattening stage until slaughter, while females are raised for an entire laying period. Such a system seems to be suitable for small-scale mountain farmers in South Tyrol to satisfy the increasing demand for high quality and regionally produced products. However, systems (i.e., husbandry, feeding, slaughter weights) have to be adjusted to the specific conditions of the region. In this experiment, the performance of male broilers of two genotypes in such a system was compared. One day-old male pure-bred (P) Les Bleues (n=150) and crossbred (C) New Hampshire x Les Bleues (n=150) chickens were raised together with their female counterparts for 12 weeks in a floor husbandry system. Genotypes were kept in two separate compartments. Thereafter, males were moved to a mobile chicken house with free-range access, which was divided in two compartments, too. Until week 6, a starter (12.9 MJ ME, 22% XP, 8.5% EE) and until slaughter a broiler diet (12.3 MJ ME, 18% XP, 7.5% EE) was provided ad libitum. Animals were marked with wing tags in week 6 and slaughtered at weekly intervals from 12th to 23rd week of age. Individual live weight was measured weekly and carcass quality assessed. Feed consumption in the mobile house could only be recorded for both genotypes together due to technical equipment. Production costs were calculated. Results were analysed by one-way ANOVA using a t-test as post-hoc test. At 12 weeks of age, live weight of P (2075 g) was about 200 g higher than that of C (1865 g;p<.05). This equals to a daily weight gain of 24.1 g for P and 21.7 g for C. Until week 16, both genotypes reached an average live weight of more than 2500 g (p>.05). Dressing percentage was about 1% higher in C than in P when animals were slaughtered with 2500 to 3000 g live weight (p>.05). Proportion of legs, breast and wings was 34.3, 16.0 and 11.0% in P and 34.7, 15.5 and 12.1% in C (p>.05). Under the specific conditions of the region, production costs per kg of slaughter weight were 5.13€ for P and 7.14€ for C, mainly due to higher animal costs for C. Prices per kg of slaughter weight were 13€. In conclusion, both genotypes showed an appropriate growth performance. However, production costs clearly demonstrated that production is only economically meaningful if animals are marketed as high-value premium products.