Effect of dietary energy density and folic acid supplementation on white striping occurrence and growth performance of broiler chickens

Broilers were allocated to eight treatments consisting of two energy levels: Normal (NE) and High (HE), and four folic acid (FA) levels (2.2, 5, 10 and 15 ppm). On d 42, two male and two female chickens were euthanized per pen and white striping (WS) evaluation was performed on the Pectoralis major. Birds fed HE diets had reduced (P<0.05) FI and FCR than those on NE diets. With increasing FA levels, there was reduced (P<0.05) WS score, increased (P<0.05) normal breast fillet percentage in female but not in the male chickens. WS scores were higher (P<0.01) in male chickens than in the females.