Figure 1 - Effect of Hemicell^® on Turkey Tom Body Weight Uniformity

Many experiments have been conducted with turkeys in which individual bird weights were measured and body weight uniformity within pens was determined. An experiment was conducted at Southern Poultry Research with 216 turkey toms to determine effects of Hemicell^® on body weight uniformity at different ages. With 9 replicate pens each containing 12 birds, birds were individually weighed at 21, 42, 70, 98 and 126 days of age. The average body weight Coefficient of Variation (CV) was significantly lower with the Hemicell^® pens at each weighing (P<.05). The CV of 126-day body weights was 13.3% for the control group and 8.8% for the toms with Hemicell^®. The nature of the differences in flock uniformity at 126 days is graphically represented in Figure 1. It is clear that there were fewer birds in the lower body weight ranges when Hemicell^® was provided.