Assessment of Broiler Chicken Welfare in Southern Brazil

Federici, JF; Vanderhasselt, Roselien; Sans, Eco; Tuyttens, Frank; Souza, Apo; Molento, Carla Forte Maiolino

doi:10.1590/18069061-2015-0022

Cited by 24 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…In the 50 farms visited in this study, 19 % of the birds had a gait score ≥3, including 2.4 % with score 4 and 0.5 % with score 5 (presented in Vasdal et al, 2018). Federici et al (2016) found lameness to be a considerable welfare problem in Brazilian broiler flocks, assessed using Welfare Quality® measures. The observed median percentage of severe lameness (scores 4 and 5) in their study were on average 14 % (range 4 % -18 (Vasdal et al, 2018).…”

Section: Lamenessmentioning

confidence: 69%

“…improving the humananimal relationship). The high median score Federici et al (2016) obtained in the touch test could be confounded by the high percentage of severe lameness found in the selected flocks, making the birds less able or willing to move away from the observer. As presented in a previous paper (Vasdal et al, 2018), there was an association between the touch test score and lameness in the data from the 50 farms used in this study.…”

Section: Lamenessmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…With this in mind, QBA could 5 potentially be used as a screening tool to identify flocks with health and pain issues that compromise the welfare to a degree where the animals' emotional state is affected. QBA is used in a few recently published studies on broiler welfare (Bassler et al, 2013;Buijs et al, 2017;de Jong et al, 2016;Federici et al, 2016). However, apart from one study in which no moderate or strong correlations were found between QBA scores and other measures in the WQ protocol (de Jong et al, 2016), there is a scarcity of information about how QBA relates to other animal-based welfare indicators in broilers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Associations between qualitative behaviour assessments and measures of leg health, fear and mortality in Norwegian broiler chicken flocks

Muri

Stubsjøen

Vasdal³

et al. 2019

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

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Qualitative behavioural assessments (QBA) is an animal-based welfare measure that has been included in several on-farm welfare assessment protocols, including the Welfare Quality® (WQ) protocol for poultry. However, there is a scarcity of information about how it relates to other animal-based welfare indicators. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate the associations between QBA and selected animalbased welfare indicators commonly used for the assessment of broiler chicken welfare, i.e. lameness, foot pad dermatitis (FPD), fear of humans (touch test), and mortality. A total of 50 commercial broiler chicken farms were visited by one observer who conducted on-farm welfare assessments using the WQ protocol. Assessments were done close to the time of slaughter (between day 27 and 34). QBA was analysed using principal component analysis (PCA), revealing two main components, labelled arousal (PC1) and mood (PC2). The scores for the other welfare indicators were categorised into dichotomous (touch test) or ordinal scales (gait score, footpad dermatitis score and mortality) to deal with skewed distributions caused by homogenous data. To investigate the associations between QBA and the other welfare indicators, we ran logistic and ordinal logistic regression models with these welfare measures as outcomes, and the two components of QBA as the predictors. Significant negative associations were found between both components of QBA and the chickens' fear of humans, as measured using the touch test. In other words, flocks with higher scores on both mood and arousal were less likely to have any chickens that were possible to touch by the assessor. A possible interpretation of these associations is that both QBA components may indicate greater liveliness in birds that did not accept to be touched by the observer. Flocks with a higher arousal score, as measured by the first component of QBA (PC1), were also less likely to be in a higher mortality category. For the other selected animal-based measures, there were no associations with QBA. We conclude that QBA needs thorough validation for the routine use in the assessment of broiler chicken welfare, but that the method may provide useful supplementary information in overall welfare assessments. This information may be particularly valuable in a production system, like the broiler industry, where management is highly standardised, sometimes resulting in little between-flock variation in other welfare measures.

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Section: Lamenessmentioning

confidence: 69%

Section: Lamenessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Associations between qualitative behaviour assessments and measures of leg health, fear and mortality in Norwegian broiler chicken flocks

Muri

Stubsjøen

Vasdal³

et al. 2019

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

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“…There are certification programs in the United States which developed systems providing higher welfare standards, such as the enriched environment system of the Global Animal Partnership [18]. In Brazil, most broilers are kept in open sided houses covered with curtains along the long sides [19]. In addition, tunnel ventilated houses are increasingly used [20], which have exhaust fans at the end of the house.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Prospects of the Cost-Efficiency of Broiler Welfare in Middle-Segment Production Systems

Vissers

Jong

Horne

et al. 2019

Animals

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In the 2000s, the idea of a so-called middle-segment arose in North-West Europe to address the criticism on intensive broiler production systems. Middle-segment systems being indoor housing of slower-growing broiler strains at a stocking density ≤38 kg/m2. Previous literature showed that Dutch middle-segment systems entail a relatively large gain in animal welfare at a relatively low increase in costs, i.e., have a high cost-efficiency. The question is to what extent these findings are applicable to other countries. Therefore, the aim of this study is to gain insight in the global prospects of middle-segment systems by exploring the cost-efficiency of these systems in other parts of the world. A set of representative countries, containing the Netherlands, United States and Brazil were selected. Cost-efficiency was defined as the ratio of the change in the level of animal welfare and the change in production costs. The level of animal welfare was measured by the Welfare Quality (WQ) index score. Data was collected from literature and consulting experts. Results show that in the Netherlands, United States and Brazil a change from conventional towards a middle-segment system improves animal welfare in a cost-efficient manner (the Netherlands 9.1, United States 24.2 and Brazil 12.1). Overall, it can be concluded that in general middle-segment production systems provide a considerable increase in animal welfare at a relatively small increase in production costs and therefore offer good prospects for a cost-efficient improvement of broiler welfare.

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“…Although some authors claim that the quality of litter is the most important factor in pododermatitis generation, Kjaer et al (2006) suggest that pododermatitis has a relatively high heritability, and this problem should be included in genetic selection programs. According to Dawkins and Layton (2012), the association between management practices and genetics is an important tool to improve conditions related to the welfare of livestock animals, which according to Federici et al (2016) means that the resolution of welfare problemssuch as the incidence of injuries -can go beyond the actions performed by poultry companies through management practices.…”

Section: The Broiler Littermentioning

confidence: 99%

The challenges of animal welfare in modern Brazilian poultry farming

Sakamoto

Benincasa

Silva

et al. 2020

JABB

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The Brazilian poultry industry is undergoing a process of increasing rigor regarding production practices related to breeding and pre-slaughter operations since animal welfare is an extremely important subject that has received great attention in the developed countries. Brazil is one of the greatest producers of chicken meat, concerns have existed in the sense of adequacy to continue attending to the demand of export and maintenance of the position of leadership, in front of the other market players. One of the key points is the necessity to improve the intensive farming, which currently has many obstacles that prejudice the basic principles of animal welfare assurance. Relatively simple problems in handling animals, litter and equipment, as well as the lack of preventive maintenance in the facilities are the main ones responsible for the thermal discomfort and quality of life of these animals. Despite all the considerations raised, a large part of the Brazilian consumers is still unaware of intensive farming and the way animals are raising on the farm until their plates, being surrounded by myths and false beliefs. Therefore, the purpose of this review is to address the main critical issues affecting the welfare of broiler chickens in intensive commercial production.

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Assessment of Broiler Chicken Welfare in Southern Brazil

Cited by 24 publications

References 36 publications

Associations between qualitative behaviour assessments and measures of leg health, fear and mortality in Norwegian broiler chicken flocks

Associations between qualitative behaviour assessments and measures of leg health, fear and mortality in Norwegian broiler chicken flocks

Global Prospects of the Cost-Efficiency of Broiler Welfare in Middle-Segment Production Systems

The challenges of animal welfare in modern Brazilian poultry farming

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