Influence of age, sex, and method of rearing on tibia length and mineral deposition in broilers

Two experiments were conducted to determine linear growth and mineral deposition in the tibiae of Vantress x Arbor Acres broilers. In Experiment 1, birds were maintained in battery brooders for 21 days then housed in floor pens from Day 22 to 70. In the second experiment, birds were reared either in battery brooders and grow-out cages or floor pens from Day 1 to 63. Males and females were maintained separately. Birds in both trials were weighted at weekly intervals and three birds of each sex per treatment were euthanatized weekly to obtain tibia samples. Tibiae were cleaned of muscle and connective tissues, dried, extracted with diethyl ether, measured for length in centimeters, weighed, and ashed. Results from both experiments show a curvilinear response for weight gain, bone length, and bone ash weight. In some cases, sex by week or week by rearing interactions (P less than .001) were observed. As expected, males had greater weight gain and bone length than females. In Experiment 2, birds grown in floor pens had greater (P less than .05) bone length, tibia weight, and tibia ash weight than cage-reared birds, but percentage tibia ash was not different between the two rearing systems. Tibia growth and mineral deposition were influenced by gender and rearing systems. Bone ash weight data for females in both trials had a response curve that approached a sigmoidal shape. Response curve for males tended to be more quadratic, indicating a significant (P less than .003) week by week by sex interaction. Thus, there was evidence for bone growth differences not only between rearing systems, but also between sexes, the latter not unexpected.