Totally, 315 42-day-old male Xueshan chickens were allocated into 3 caging densities, 14, 21 and 28 birds/m2. Each treatment was represented by 5 replicates. The body weight (BW), slaughter performance, meat quality, behavioral assessment, and the cecal microorganisms were detected at the market age. The results showed that the BW of broilers in the low- and medium-density groups was significantly higher (p < 0.05) than that of the high-density group from the age of 10 weeks. Only the feather quality of the broilers in the low-density group improved significantly (p < 0.05) compared with those of the other two groups. And, the abdominal fat percentage and the fat content of thigh muscle of broilers in the low- and medium-density groups were higher (p < 0.05) than those in the high-density group. No significant difference (p > 0.05) was noted in the other traits. The abundance of some microbial like Akkermansiaceae, Lactobacillaceae and Faecalibacterium may be correlated with the BW and fat content of broilers. The findings of this study suggest that increasing the stocking density decreased the final BW, fat content and the feather quality, whereas no evidence was found that stocking density caused changes in other parameters.
Keywords: Yellow feather broiler; cecal bacterial communities; performance; stocking density.