Fifty game pheasants were kept to 8 weeks in confinement housing and later maintained outdoors in a partially roofed aviary. Pheasants received commercial feed mixtures ad libitum. Body weight and dimensions were determined every 4 weeks. Ten pheasants were selected for slaughter at the end of 18 and 20 weeks each. After slaughter, their heads, shanks, feathers, blood, inedible viscera and major internal organs were weighed and digestive tract separated and measured. The carcasses were dissected. Higher body weights and daily gains were found in males than in females on all test days during rearing to 20 weeks of age. Compared to females, males had significantly longer keel from 4 weeks, longer lower thighs and shanks from 8 weeks, and longer trunk with and without neck and greater chest circumference from 12 weeks of age. Older pheasants had a significantly lower proportion of feathers and blood, and higher content of inedible viscera, with significantly relatively shorter (cm 100 g b.w. ) small intestine, caecum and rectum in males than in females. With advancing age, there was a decrease in the proportion of gizzard (significant) and liver, and in males a significant increase in the proportion of testicles. Keywords
The effect of using whole wheat grain in diet of game pheasants on their body weight, dimensions and development of some internal organs. Folia biol. (Kraków) 58: 101-106. The supplementation of game pheasant diet from 5 weeks of age with 30% whole wheat grain instead of feed mixture did not significantly affect their body weight nor most body dimensions. Female and male pheasants fed a diet containing wheat grain had smaller body and trunk lengths, greater chest circumference and greater length of breastbone, and lower thigh and shank size. Female pheasants were characterized by higher indices of compactness and long-leggedness, whereas male pheasants had higher indices of massiveness, compactness and long-leggedness than pheasants fed only feed mixtures. Cock pheasants receiving the wheat diet also had a statistically shorter trunk, however, hens possessed a statistically longer lower thigh. Length of intestine (174.2 cm) and individual parts of the intestine (small intestine 119.9 cm; caeca 43 cm; rectum 11.3 cm) was greater in cocks fed whole wheat grain compared to cocks receiving only feed mixtures (156.1; 107.6; 38.8; 9.7 cm, respectively). An opposite cocks was found in hens. Supplementation of whole wheat grain in the diets significantly (P#0.05) increased liver weight and percentage in females and significantly decreased testicular weight and percentage in males. It was also found that females of both feed-treatment groups had significantly lower weights of heart, liver and spleen, and hens fed only feed mixtures were also characterized by a significantly lower weight of the proventriculus.
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