Residual Feed Consumption in Poultry

The genetic performances of the egg and meat-type chickens have improved substantially by breeding studies. it could be said that the biological limits have been reached in both areas. traditional breeding strategies have focused on maximizing production traits. one of the today’s main purposes of the breeding strategies is to produce superior birds which consume relatively less feed. in this context, a new emphasis of breeders is residual feed consumption (rfc). unexplained variation of feed consumption by metabolic body weight, weight gain, and/or egg mass is reflected in differences in rfc. rfc is defined as the difference between observed feed intake and feed intake predicted from metabolic body weight (representing maintenance) and weight gain and/or egg mass (both representing production).