Abstract
The intense selection process for higher growth rate and breast meat yield carried out in the past decades on fast-growing (FG) broiler chickens has determined some health and welfare issues as well as product quality alterations, eliciting concerns from consumers and regulatory agencies. In this context, the European Chicken Commitment (ECC) has defined specific standards with the aim to improve animal welfare, production sustainability and food safety in the poultry meat chain. Thus, the aim of the project is to characterize ECC-approved chicken strains in terms of productive performance, metabolic traits, animal welfare indicators and product quality, according to genotype-related factors, such as kinetic activity, as well as environmental conditions, including heat stress exposure, and nutritional regimens, with specific reference to dietary modulation.
Results achieved
The project has completed the planned experimental activities aimed at characterizing poultry genotypes approved by the European Chicken Commitment, with particular reference to Ranger Gold and Kabir, respectively classified as medium- and slow-growing strains, in comparison with the conventional fast-growing Ross 308 hybrid. The experimental trials were carried out by the Universities of Perugia, Padova and Bologna under coordinated protocols, addressing the effects of increased kinetic activity, heat stress exposure, environmental enrichment and dietary modulation through low-protein feeding strategies. Productive performance, welfare indicators, metabolic traits, slaughtering traits, environmental impact and meat quality were assessed across the different experimental conditions. The results highlighted that ECC-approved strains cannot be considered as a homogeneous category, since relevant differences emerged between Ranger Gold and Kabir in terms of growth pattern, behaviour, productive performance, muscle metabolism, oxidative status and meat quality traits. Ranger Gold showed an intermediate profile between Kabir and Ross 308, combining acceptable productive performance with favourable behavioural and quality-related characteristics. These findings suggest that medium-growing genotypes may represent a suitable compromise for production systems aiming to comply with ECC standards while maintaining an adequate balance among productivity, animal welfare and product quality. The project also provided evidence that slower-growing strains require genotype-specific rearing and feeding strategies. In particular, the results support the need to adapt stocking conditions, environmental enrichment, opportunities for movement and nutritional programmes to the biological characteristics and resilience of each genotype. Low-protein diets may contribute to reducing the environmental burden associated with feed formulation, although the lower productivity of slower-growing strains requires careful evaluation of economic, commercial and environmental trade-offs. Overall, the results provide a scientific basis for the development of sustainable rearing strategies for ECC-compliant poultry production systems. The project outputs included the completion of the planned experimental trials, the organization of project meetings, the dissemination of results at scientific conferences and the preparation/submission of scientific articles. The findings support a multi-criteria approach to strain selection and management, integrating productive efficiency, animal welfare, meat quality, environmental impact and consumer expectations within a One Welfare perspective.Dettagli del progetto
Responsabile scientifico: Massimiliano Petracci
Strutture Unibo coinvolte:
Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Agro-Alimentari
Coordinatore:
Università degli Studi di PERUGIA(Italy)
Contributo totale Unibo: Euro (EUR) 70.380,00
Durata del progetto in mesi: 24
Data di inizio
12/10/2023
Data di fine:
28/02/2026
