Interview with Year 12 Ag Science Students – Animal Production Student Experiment

In Year 12 Ag Science we are studying how variations in protein affect the growth of broiler chickens from birth to 6 weeks old. We are learning about feed conversion ratios which is how much food it takes for an animal to produce 1 kg of body weight.

We are adding a protein additive (soymeal) to chicken feed at different rates. We weigh out the food and add the protein percentage accordingly. Then each week we weigh the chickens to find out how much weight they have gained from the previous week.

The purpose of this experiment is to help farmers determine the optimum amount of protein additive to achieve the highest yield of meat from their broiler chickens.