Messenger RNA sequencing and pathway analysis provide novel insights into the biological basis of chickens’ feed efficiency

Table 1 Statistics of the measurements from high- and low-feed efficiency (FE) chickens

Measurements	High-FE birds (n = 10)	Low-FE birds (n = 13)
Bird weight (Kg), 29-d	1.316 ± 0.140	1.345 ± 0.169
Bird weight (Kg), 46-d	3.093 ± 0.283	2.960 ± 0.176
Weight gain (Kg), 29- to 46-d	1.778 ± 0.188*	1.615 ± 0.099*
Feed consumption (Kg), 29- to 46-d	2.874 ± 0.249**	3.325 ± 0.136**
Feed conversion ratio^a	1.620 ± 0.054**	2.063 ± 0.085**
Residual feed consumption (Kg)^b	-0.276 ± 0.040**	0.356 ± 0.048**
Breast muscle weight (%BW), 47-d	23.2 ± 01.6*	21.6 ± 1.4*
Breast muscle weight (Kg), 47-d	0.721 ± 0.100*	0.648 ± 0.071*

The significance between high- and low-FE birds was determined using Fisher’s least significance difference (LSD) test. P ≤ 0.05 is denoted by *; P ≤ 0.01 is denoted by**.
^aFeed conversion ratio = Feed consumption (29- to 46- d) / Weight gain (29- to 46-d).
^bResidual feed consumption = FC – (Level + Row (Level) + b1*BW29 + b2*BW46 + c), where FC represents the feed consumption of each bird; Level represents the fixed effects of row location (top or bottom level) on FC; Row (Level) represents the fixed effects of row nested within row location; BW29 is the initial (29-day) body weight; BW46 is the ending (46-day) body weight; c is the intercept; and b1 and b2 are the partial regression coefficients of FC on BW29 and BW46.

ISSN: 1471-2164