Potential climate performance of modern fast- and slow-growing broiler genotypes
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: e per kg eviscerated carcass, compared to the slowest-growing genotypes. As the faster growth rate reduces the time to reach the slaughter weight (ranging from 38 days to 61 days between the genotypes), up to 13 MJ less energy per bird is lost as heat during the whole growth cycle and therefore less feed is needed. The improvement of feed efficiency is important because the feed-related emissions have a high contribution to the overall greenhouse gas emissions of broilers, ranging from 88 - 92%, when fed with the traditional soya-based diet. Additionally, differences in the body composition also have an effect on the energy consumption of the birds and on the corresponding greenhouse gas emissions. The protein sources in diets have generally high greenhouse gas intensity, and therefore reducing the protein concentration of the diet may, in some cases, reduce the global warming potential. On the other hand, this effect is limited by the adverse effect on the growth rate of the birds. In cases where protein sources with lower emission intensity can be used, the reduction of the protein concentration in the diet does not bring any further improvement to the climate performance of broiler production. In contrast, in such cases, low protein diets increase the emissions as a result of the longer growth cycle. In conclusion, the differences in Global Warming Potential of modern broiler genotypes are related to the differences in their efficiency of the use of feed energy. This efficiency is dependent on the growth rate of the birds, although the differences in body composition also have some effect.
Source: animal
Author: I. Leinonen
Institution: Natural Resources Institute Finland
Language: English
Subfield: Ecology
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,000
OpenAlex ID: W4409154896