Abdominal fat deposition and sudden death syndrome in broilers: the effects of restricted intake, early life caloric (fat) restriction, and calorie: protein ratio.

The effects of feed restriction, early life fat restriction, and calorie:protein ratio on abdominal fat pad development and sudden death syndrome (SDS) in the broiler chicken were studied in two experiments. In Experiment 1, restricting feed intake to 90% of ad libitum intake was found to reduce significantly (P less than .01) both 49-day body weights and abdominal fat pad size while feed efficiency was significantly (P less than .01) improved compared to groups fed a wheat diet ad libitum. Corn-fed birds tended to outperform wheat fed groups. Reduced growth rate or supplementation of the diet with additional vitamins and minerals did not effect the incidence of SDS. In Experiment 2, fat restriction in the diet from 0 to 7 days initially reduced growth rate and increased feed:gain ratios. By 49 days, no effect of fat restriction on these parameters was observed. Dietary fat restriction tended to increase abdominal fat measured at 49 days of age. Lowering the calorie: protein ratio of the finishing diet significantly (P less than .05) improved feed:gain ratios measured from 29 to 49 days and tended to reduce fat pad size. Incidence of SDS was significantly (P less than .05) lower from 29 to 56 days in groups fed the 24% protein finisher diet as compared to birds fed a 19% finisher diet.