Reducing growth rate of broiler chickens with a low energy diet does not improve cortical bone quality

1. Reducing growth rate is often supposed to allow better skeletal development and improve bone quality. In order to test this assumption, flocks of broiler chickens fed on a diet containing 13.31 MJ ME/kg (H) were compared with flocks in which the growth rate was reduced by feeding birds with a low energy diet (L, 9.62 MJ ME/kg). 2. Bone growth was studied in 2 experiments in order to identify any changes in bone tissue of slow-growing chickens that might explain why they are less predisposed to varus-valgus deformities (3.1% vs 19.9%). 3. In experiment 1, the morphology, composition and histomorphometry of the tibiotarsi were analysed in both groups at 1, 12, 26, 42 and 46 d of age. Tibial variables (weight, volume, length, cortex size and structure, dry content and ash percentage) were always reduced in slow-growing birds except at 42 d of age, when tibial weight and cortex areas were similar in both groups. 4. Every variable was similar in both groups, or even higher in H birds, when chickens were compared at similar body weight, suggesting that the low growth rate did not improve bone quantity or quality of the tibiae. 5. In experiment 2, the composition of the tibiotarsi was compared every 2 days during the first week and twice a week until 36 d of age, in H and L birds. Weight and composition of the tibiotarsi did not differ between groups when compared at equal body weight, as also shown in experiment 1. 6. The reduced occurrence of varus-valgus deformities in slow-growing chicks cannot be related to an improvement in the structure and the composition of their bone tissue.