©2009 Poultry Science Association, Inc.

Effect of pellet diameter in broiler starter diets

on subsequent performance1

S. Cerrate, Z. Wang, C. Coto, F. Yan, and P. W. Waldroup2

Department of Poultry Science, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville 72701

Primary Audience: Nutritionists, Feed Mill Managers, Veterinarians

SUMMARY
Differently sized dies were used to pellet broiler starter diets formulated to meet typical
commercial standards. From 0 to 13 d of age, birds in floor pens were assigned different feed
forms, such as mash, crumble, or pellets made by using 1.59- and 3.17-mm dies, followed by
common grower and finisher diets pelleted with a 4.76-mm die fed to 41 d. During the first 13
d, birds fed the crumble diet and the 1.59- and 3.17-mm die diets had greater BW and more ef-
ficient feed conversion than did birds fed the mash feed; however, when all birds were placed
on a common pelleted feed from 13 to 41 d, these positive effects dissipated as the birds grew
older. Significant differences in feed intake were observable only at 13 d. Birds fed the diet
pelleted with a 1.59- or 3.17-mm die had higher feed consumption than did birds fed the mash
feed, but the feed intake was similar when birds were fed either the crumble or mash diet. Sig-
nificant linear regressions were observed between BW or feed intake at 13 d and at 34 or 41
d. According to these correlations, the numerical differences in BW or feed intake at 7 d were
maintained up to 34 or 41 d. It was likely that a 3.17-mm die diet was suitable for the starter
diet because these birds became accustomed to a larger pellet size, thereby increasing the feed
intake in subsequent periods. These data indicate that the small pellet diameters could be ben-
eficial during the starter period and on subsequent performance.

Key words: pellet, broiler, starter diet

2009 J. Appl. Poult. Res. 18:590–597
doi:10.3382/japr.2009.00041

DESCRIPTION OF PROBLEM diameter pellet during a prestarter period of 1 to

7 d of age diminished during subsequent feeding
Diets fed to broilers for the first few weeks of a pelleted diet. Extending the feeding period
after hatch are typically fed either as mash or, of a small pellet could improve the early growth
more frequently, by crumbling a large pellet rate and subsequent performance. Although a
(crumbles). It has been suggested [1] that feed- mash or crumble feed followed by pellets has
ing a small, intact pellet during the initial feed- resulted in similar performance in later periods
ing period may be beneficial in enhancing early [2, 3], correlations in favor of processed feed
growth rates and on subsequent performance; could be observed between performance at an
however, the beneficial effect of feeding a small- early age and slaughter age.
1
Published with approval of the director, Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station (Fayetteville). Mention of a trade name,
proprietary product, or specific equipment does not constitute a guarantee or warranty by the University of Arkansas and does
not imply its approval to the exclusion of other products that may be suitable.
2
Corresponding author: Waldroup@uark.edu

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 Cerrate et al.: PELLET DIAMETER AND PERFORMANCE
It has been demonstrated that when pellet
quality is reduced, performance is also decreased
[4–6]. McKinney and Teeter [7] proposed a
model that indirectly measured increased ME
values of pellet feed as the percentage of fines
was reduced or as pellet quality was improved.
However, when direct measures of pellet and
mash ME values were determined, no differ-
ence was observed [8–13], whereas when mea-
sures of pellet and mash net energy (NE) val-
ues were determined [11, 14], differences were
found in favor of processed feed. This improved
NE value of pelleted feed can be explained by
the sparing of energy for activity, probably be-
cause of an increased dietary density [15] and
an appropriate pellet size for the oral cavity of
the bird, which decreases the time for eating [7,
16–20]. Studies have suggested or demonstrated
that birds choose a feed size according to varia-
tions in their oral cavities [21, 22]. The objective
of the present study was to compare the perfor-
mance of chicks fed diets using mash, crumbles,
or differently sized pellets in the starter period (0
to 13 d) on subsequent performance.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Diets (Table 1) were formulated for starter (0
to 13 d), grower (13 to 34 d), and finisher (34
to 41 d) periods based on nutrient content val-
ues from the top 5 broiler companies in an ag-
ricultural survey [23]. During the starter period,
from 0 to 13 d of age, the diet was subjected to
4 different treatments: 1) no pelleting (mash), 2)
pelleted with a 4.76-mm die and crumbled, 3)
pelleted with a 1.59-mm die, or 4) pelleted with
a 3.17-mm die. From 13 to 41 d of age, all birds
were fed common grower and finisher diets that
had been pelleted with a 4.76-mm die.
Each of the 4 treatments was fed to 6 replicate
pens of 25 male chicks. Male chicks of a com-
mercial broiler strain [24] were obtained from a
local hatchery, where they had been vaccinated
in ovo for Marek’s disease and had received vac-
cinations for Newcastle disease and infectious
bronchitis posthatch via a coarse spray. Twenty-
five birds were randomly assigned to each of 24
pens (5.2 m2). Each pen was equipped with 2
tube feeders and 1 automatic water font. Previ-
ously used softwood shavings over a concrete
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591
floor served as litter. Thermostatically controlled
gas brooders, ventilation fans, and sidewall cur-
tains controlled the temperature and airflow.
Incandescent lamps supplemented natural light
to provide 23 h of light daily. Care and manage-
ment of the birds followed recommended guide-
lines [25].
Pellet quality of the starter diets was mea-
sured in quadruplicate on samples taken at dif-
ferent intervals during the pelleting process by
placing a weighed amount of feed (approximate-
ly 500 g) in a Tyler Sieve Shaker [26] for 30 s
at a rate of 278 oscillations/min. The percentage
of pellets retained on a 2-mm screen was used to
determine pellet quality. Body weight and feed
consumption by pen were determined at 1, 13,
34, or 41 d of age. Mortality was checked twice
daily and birds that died were weighed for ad-
justment of feed conversion. Data were subject-
ed to ANOVA using the GLM of SAS [27]. Pens
means served as an experimental unit for sta-
tistical analysis. Significant differences among
or between means were separated by repeated
t-tests using the LSMEANS option of SAS [27].
Mortality data were transformed to the square
root of n + 1 before analysis. All results are pre-
sented as natural numbers. Linear regressions
between BW or feed intake at 13 d and at 34 or
41 d were obtained using JMP software [28].
RESULTS
Pellet quality of the starter diets is shown
in Figure 1. There were significant differences
among feed forms. The percentages of fines
were 97% for the mash, 58% for the crumble,
17% for the 3.17-mm die, and 4% for the 1.59-
mm die diets.
The effects of feed form in starter diets on
live performance are shown in Table 2. Feed
form had a significant effect on BW at 13 d of
age. At that time, birds that had been fed pelleted
or crumbled diets were all significantly heavier
than birds fed the mash diet. However, after all
chicks had been placed on a common pelleted
diet, BW at 34 or 41 d did not differ among birds
fed any of the diets during the starter period of 0
to 13 d. Although a statistical difference in BW
was not observed at 34 or 41 d, there were sig-
nificant linear regressions between BW at 13 d
 592 JAPR: Research Report

Table 1. Composition (g/kg) and calculated nutrient content of basal diets

Item 0 to 14 d 14 to 35 d 35 to 42 d

Ingredient
  Yellow corn 603.52 660.10 720.57
  Soybean meal 323.80 268.22 209.79
  Animal protein blend1 25.00 25.00 25.00
  Poultry oil 12.55 13.76 14.11
  Defluorinated phosphate 13.51 12.18 9.74
  Ground limestone 4.71 3.98 4.42
  Sodium chloride 2.51 2.69 3.00
  MHA-842 2.47 2.25 1.45
  l-Lysine hydrochloride 1.62 1.57 1.64
  l-Threonine 0.56 0.50 0.53
  Vitamin premix3 5.00 5.00 5.00
  Anticoccidial4 0.75 0.75 0.75
  Antibiotic5 0.50 0.50 0.50
  Trace mineral mix6 1.00 1.00 1.00
  Pelleting aid7 2.50 2.50 2.50
  Total 1,000.00 1,000.00 1,000.00
Nutrient
  CP, % 22.67 20.33 17.89
  ME, kcal/kg 3,064.43 3,130.56 3,196.70
  Calcium, % 1.00 0.90 0.80
  Available P, % 0.45 0.42 0.37
  Sodium, % 0.20 0.20 0.20
  Met, % 0.61 0.56 0.47
  Lys, % 1.32 1.16 1.01
  Thr, % 0.88 0.80 0.70
  TSAA, % 0.97 0.90 0.77
1
Pro-Pak (H. J. Baker and Bro. Inc., Stamford, CT).
2
MHA-84 (Novus International, St. Louis, MO).
3
Provides (per kg of diet): vitamin A, 7,715 IU; cholecalciferol, 5,511 IU; vitamin E, 16.53 IU; vitamin B12, 0.013 mg; ribofla-
vin, 6.6 mg; niacin, 39 mg; pantothenic acid, 10 mg; menadione, 1.5 mg; folic acid, 0.9 mg; choline, 1,000 mg; thiamine, 1.54
mg; pyridoxine, 2.76 mg; d-biotin, 0.066 mg; ethoxyquin, 125 mg.
4
Coban 60 (Elanco Animal Health, division of Eli Lilly and Co., Indianapolis, IN).
5
BMD-50 (Alpharma Inc., Ft. Lee, NJ).
6
Mintrex P_Se (Novus International Inc., St. Louis, MO). Provides (per kg of diet): Mn (as manganese methionine hydroxy
analog complex), 40 mg; Zn (as zinc methionine hydroxy analog complex), 40 mg; Cu (as copper methionine hydroxy analog
complex), 20 mg; Se (as selenium yeast), 0.3 mg.
7
Pel-Stik (Uniscope Inc., Johnstown CO).

and at 34 or 41 d (Figure 2). The slopes of re-

gression lines indicated that a 1-g change in BW
at 13 d resulted in a corresponding change of 1.5
or 1.8 g in BW at 34 d or at 41 d, respectively.
The feed form significantly influenced feed
intake only at 13 d (Table 2). Birds fed diets
pelleted with 1.59- or 3.17-mm dies had higher
feed consumption than did birds fed mash, but
the feed intake was similar when birds were fed
either a crumble or mash diet. Significant linear
regressions were observed between feed intake Figure 1. Estimation of pellet quality of test diets used
at 13 d and at 34 or 41 d (Figure 3). The slopes during the first 13 d. The percentage of fines indicates
the amount of material that passes through a 2-mm
of regression lines indicated that a 1-g change in screen. a–dBars with common letters do not differ sig-
feed intake at 13 d resulted in a corresponding nificantly (P < 0.05).

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 Cerrate et al.: PELLET DIAMETER AND PERFORMANCE 593

change of 4.2 or 5.9 g in feed intake at 34 or 41

0 to 41 d
d, respectively.

0.724
1.693
1.972
4.67
2.67
5.33
4.00
Feed conversion at 13 d of age was signifi-
cantly affected by the feed form. Birds fed the
Mortality, %

diet as a crumble or as small pellets had a sig-

0 to 34 d

0.975
1.256
1.492
2.67
2.00
2.00
2.00
nificantly better feed conversion at 13 d than did
birds fed the mash feed. However, at 34 and 41
d, after placing birds on a common pelleted diet
0 to 13 d

at 13 d, there were no significant differences in

0.714
0.931
1.122
1.33
0.67
2.00
0.67
Table 2. Effects of feed forms in starter diets fed 0 to 13 d on the performance of male broilers (means of 6 pens of 25 male chicks per treatment)

feed conversion among the various dietary treat-

ments. There was no significant effect of feed
form on mortality.
0 to 41 d

1.647
1.640
1.643
1.648

0.852
0.007
1.05

DISCUSSION
The fact that BW at 7 d was improved in
Feed conversion

birds fed 1.59-mm-sized pellets compared with

0 to 34 d

1.549
1.538
1.537
1.545

0.592
0.007
1.12

3.17-mm-sized pellets [1] but not at 13 d in the

present study suggests that a 3.17-mm pellet size
is appropriate for this period. Studies have sug-
0 to 13 d

1.204b
1.205b
1.203b
1.357a

gested or demonstrated that birds select a feed

<0.001
0.010
1.87

size according to the size of the oral cavity [21,

22].
The greater pellet quality or smaller percent-
age of fines observed in the 1.59-mm-diameter
0 to 41 d

4.872
4.920
4.951
5.006

0.443
0.058

die diet (4%) compared with the 3.17-mm-

2.89

diameter die diet (17%) should have improved

Feed intake, kg/bird

performance, but this positive effect did not

0 to 34 d

happen. The similarity in BW between birds

3.399
3.419
3.453
3.477

0.510
0.039
2.77

fed these 2 small-pellet diets suggests that the

3.17-mm die diet probably was suitable for the
oral cavity of the bird during the starter period
0 to 13 d

0.502ab
0.494b

0.510a
0.507a

(0 to 13 d), allowing a greater NE value caused

After 13 d, all birds received a common diet pelleted with a 4.76-mm die.
0.006
0.003
1.31

by a decreased time for eating. However, the de-

Means with common letters do not differ significantly (P ≤ 0.05).

creased pellet quality of the 3.17-mm-diameter

die diet compared with the 1.59-mm-diameter
die diet probably reduced this NE value.
3.006
3.047
3.062
3.086

0.379
0.032
41 d

2.60

Even the small-pellet diets having a better

pellet quality than that of the crumble diets (4
or 17 vs. 58%) produced a similar BW at 13 d
2.243
2.271
2.295
2.299

0.424
0.026
BW, kg

34 d

2.82

among these processed forms; however, numeri-

cally, an increased BW was observed in favor of
the small pellet sizes. This numerical improve-
<0.0001
0.417b
0.463a
0.471a
0.470a

0.004
13 d

2.34

ment in BW at 13 d was mainly due to increased

feed intake and, consequently, elevated ME
CV of transformed means.

intake. It has been demonstrated that birds fed

pellets increase their ME intake compared with
Feed form, 0 to 13 d1

birds fed mash [13, 29]. Moreover, these birds

expend less energy for eating and improve the
NE value of the feed [7, 17, 19, 20], even though
1.59 mm
3.17 mm
Crumble

P-value

the ME is the same for pelleted and mash feed

Mash

SEM
CV

[8–13].
a,b

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 594 JAPR: Research Report

Figure 2. Linear regressions between BW at 13 d and at 34 or 41 d, where Y is the BW at 34 or 41 d; X is the BW

at 13 d; RMSE is the root mean square error; R is the correlation; and n is the number of observations. Correla-
tions between BW at 13 d of age and at 34 or 41 d of age were 0.61 and 0.55, respectively, and were significant at
0.00019 and 0.0053, respectively.

It seems that birds fed a mash diet during
the first 13 d had compensatory growth because
no significant difference was observed among
treatments at 34 and 41 d. Other studies have
demonstrated a similar phenomenon [2, 3], in
which birds fed either mash or crumble up to 14
or 21 d, followed by a common processed feed,
had similar performance. However, significant
linear regressions between BW at 13 d and at 34
or 41 d were observed in favor of the processed
feeds (Figure 2). Correlations of BW between a
young age or egg weight and slaughter age have

Figure 3. Linear regressions between feed intake at 13 d and at 34 or 41 d, where Y is the feed intake at 34 or 41 d;
X is the feed intake at 13 d; RMSE is the root mean square error; R is the correlation; and n is the number of obser-
vations. Correlations between feed intake at 13 d of age and at 34 or 41 d of age were 0.56 and 0.63, respectively,
and were significant at 0.0044 and 0.001, respectively.

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 Cerrate et al.: PELLET DIAMETER AND PERFORMANCE
also been shown [30, 31]. This BW tendency
shows that a small pellet size given early is suit-
able for this period.
The feed intake had almost the same pattern as
BW except for the crumble diet, which showed a
feed intake similar to mash feed at 13 d. Gener-
ally, the treatments with higher BW also had a
higher feed intake. The higher feed consumption
at 13 d found in the small-pellet diets compared
with mash feed agrees with several studies [2,
8, 18, 32–38]. The feed intake at 34 or 41 d was
similar among treatments; however, a consistent
pattern of difference was also observed. Corre-
lated responses between feed intake at an early
age and at an older age showed that an increased
feed consumption of small pellets over crumble,
and crumble over mash feed at 13 d was also
maintained at an older age (Figure 3).
It has been shown that increasing the level
of fines or grinding pellets adversely affects the
feed conversion [4, 5, 39]. In the present study,
the similar feed conversions among the crum-
ble, 3.17-mm die, and 1.59-mm die diets, even
though there was a difference in pellet quality
or percentage of fines, showed that the crumble
diet would be suitable for the starter period, de-
spite its higher percentage of fines. Perhaps the
crumble pellet had particles with a dimension
suitable for the oral cavity of the bird, which al-
lowed a reduction in the energy for eating and
consequently a greater NE value, thus offset-
ting its lower pellet quality. On the other hand,
the correlated responses between feed intake or
BW at 13 d and at 49 d in birds fed crumble
diets compared with birds fed small-pellet diets
eliminate this scenario because of reduced feed
consumption or BW. The best feed conversion
at 13 d, observed in birds fed processed feeds
compared with birds given mash feed, may be
accounted for by a better NE value because less
activity is used for eating. In addition, many
studies have observed that pelleted feed im-
proves the feed conversion compared with mash
feed [4, 5, 8, 18, 35–38, 40–46].
The significant coefficient slopes between
BW or feed intake at 13 d and at 34 or at 41 d
in favor of a small pellet size suggest that the
3.17-mm-diameter die would be suitable for this
period because of the numerically greater feed
intake and consequently greater BW at 34 and 41
d. The numerically higher feed intake and BW at
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595
35 d or at 41 d, but not at 13 d, of birds fed the
3.17-mm-pellet diet, in contrast to birds fed the
1.59-mm-pellet diet, show that their increased
feed intake at an older age was not a conse-
quence of the higher feed intake at 13 d. Thus, it
seems that the change in feeds from small pellet
sizes (1.59 and 3.17 mm) to larger pellet sizes
(4.76 mm for grower diet) was managed better
for birds fed the 3.17-mm pellet size compared
with birds fed the 1.59-mm pellet size, perhaps
because the former birds became accustomed to
a larger pellet size, thereby increasing their feed
intake in subsequent periods.
The results of this study show that a small
pellet diameter or crumbles compared with mash
in starter diets can improve the performance at
13 d but that these positive effects are not main-
tained up to 41 d of age. However, significant
linear regressions between BW or feed intake at
13 d and at 34 or at 41 d were observed in fa-
vor of small-pellet diets. Small increases in BW
are maintained numerically and are slightly in-
creased over the growing and finishing period.
CONCLUSIONS AND APPLICATIONS
1. Chicks fed diets as crumbles or as small
pellets (1.59- or 3.17-mm die) for 0 to 13
d of age had significantly higher BW and
better feed conversion at 13 d than birds
fed the same diet in mash form.
2. Body weights and feed conversion at 34
or 41 d did not differ significantly be-
tween birds fed the different starter diets
after all birds had been fed a common
pelleted diet (4.76-mm die) beginning at
13 d.
3. Using crumbles appeared to be as ef-
fective as using an intact small pellet in
stimulating early chick growth and feed
conversion.
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