earticle

영어

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of mixed or split-sex feeding on growth performance and behavior of Korean native chickens. Three variants of the sex ratio, FO (female only), MO (male only) and MI (mixed) were tested in Korean native chickens (Hanhyop 3) that were between the ages of 7 and 91 days. Body weight gain was the highest (p<0.05) in the MO treatment and the lowest (p<0.05) in the MI treatment. The feed intake (FI) of birds in the MO treatment was higher (p<0.05) than that of birds in the MI treatment during days 14-21, also MO treatment was higher (p<0.05) than that of birds in the MI treatment during days 21-28. However, the FI of birds in the MI group was higher (p<0.05) than that of birds in FO treatment during days 35-42. The behavioral frequency of walking, drinking, and aggressive pecking were not affected by sex ratio treatment. The behavioral frequency of feeding was higher in the FO treatment than that of birds in the other treatments. The comfort time of birds in the MI treatment was longer (p<0.05) than that of birds in the other treatments. The behavioral frequency of pecking was higher in the MO treatment than that of birds in the other treatments. The study suggests that when male and female Korean native chickens are reared together, sex ratio can influence growth performance and behavior frequency.