| Description: |
In this trial, the effects of early qualitative feed restriction and barrier perch access on some meat quality traits, growth performance, and diet cost analysis of broiler chickens were investigated. A total of 504 1-d-old male chicks (Ross 308) were randomly allocated to four treatments (qualitative feed restriction − QFR; absence-/presence+ and barrier perch − BP; absence-/presence+) with three replicate pens in a completely randomised design involving a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments. Broiler chickens in the treatment of QFR- were fed with a corn-soybean meal diet containing protein and energy at the level specified in the commercial hybrid catalogue during d 0−42. The treatment of QFR+ was fed with a corn-soybean meal diet containing lower energy (10%) and protein (20%) for the first 21 d, and then between d 22 and 42, they were fed with a diet specified in the commercial hybrid catalogue. In the treatment of BP+, the barrier perch was placed between the feeder and the drinker. Meat quality traits (pH, lightness − L*, redness − a*, yellowness − b*, chroma, hue angle, and cooking loss − CL), growth performance (body weight − BW, body weight gain − BWG, feed intake − FI, and feed conversion ratio − FCR), and diet cost analysis (total diet cost and diet cost per unit weight gain) were recorded. Except for the a* value and hue angle measured at 24-h post-slaughter, the effect of QFR treatments on meat quality traits was insignificant in all measurements. During d 0−42, in the treatments of QFR+, BW, BWG, and FI were lower (P |