Effects of Litter Type and Gender on Behavior Characteristics and Growth Performance of Korean Hanhyup Broiler

Abstract

The Korean Hanhyup broiler has commercialized native meat-type chicken. This study aimed to determine the effects of two types of litter materialsawdust and rice husk, and gender on the Korean Hanhyup broiler. Chicks (n=416) were randomly assigned in a 2 × 2 factorial design by type of litter material and gender. The behavior of chicken's was monitored continuously for 12 hours during the 1 through 8 week of age. The time spent on standing, sitting, and walking and the frequency of drinking, feeding, preening, dust bathing, flapping, and aggressive pecking, and pecking of chicken's behavior were recorded. The behavior of chickens during the starter (1 to 4 weeks) and finisher period (5 to 8 weeks) was compared to observe the changes upon maturity. Our results indicate that litter material type and gender have no effect on the behavior of chickens. However, aggressive pecking and pecking caused increment in the rice husk as compared to sawdust (P<0.05). Sawdust as litter material for bedding was found to be better than rice husk with respect to Korean Hanhyup broiler behavior. (