The use of infrared thermography in the identification of pododermatitis in broilers

Abstract

International trade in broiler' feet, mainly to Asian markets, has demanded better quality control. The objective of this research was to study the suitability of using chicken footpad surface temperature to determine early lesions of pododermatitis. The project was conducted in two houses A1 and A2) in a commercial farm during one production flock. A1 had reused litter of wood shavings and rice hulls, and A2 had a new litter of sawdust. Both houses had positive pressure ventilation. The inner area of the poultry was virtually divided into three quadrants. The footpads were checked for the feet quality, and a degree of pododermatitis was awarded. Thermal images were made to test the surface temperature of the foot and identify inflammation in a total of 30 birds per house, at ages 5, 19, 29, 28 and 40 days of grow-out. Conditions of the rearing environment as well as the surface temperature of the litter, litter moisture, and degree of compression, were recorded. The environment within the houses did not differ. The surface temperatures of the footpad did not differ between the groups. The minimum footpad surface temperatures within the scores were similar, except for the score 3, which did not occur in A1. There was a prevalence of severe injury in the house with a new litter. KEYWORDS: rearing ambient, sub-clinical lesions, thermal image USO DA TERMOGRAFIA INFRAVERMELHO NA IDENTIFICAÇÃO DE PODODERMATITE EM FRANGO DE CORTERESUMO: O comércio internacional de pés de frangos, sobretudo para os mercados asiáticos, demanda maior controle de qualidade. O objetivo da pesquisa foi estudar o uso de temperatura superficial dos pés de frangos de várias idades, para identificar a presença de lesões de pododermatite. O projeto foi feito em dois galpões de uma granja comercial durante um lote. Os aviários eram similares (A1 e A2). A1 tinha cama reusada de maravalha e casca de arroz e A2, cama nova de pó de serra. Os aviários tinham ventilação de pressão positiva. A área interna dos aviários foi dividida em três quadrantes. Os coxins foram checados para avaliara a qualidade dos pés sendo atribuído o grau de pododermatite. Imagens térmicas foram feitas para testar a temperatura superficial do pé e identificar a lesão em 30 aves por aviário nas idades de 5; 19; 29; 28 e 40 dias. Foram registradas a ambiência do alojamento, a temperatura da cama e sua compactação. O ambiente dos aviários não diferiu. As temperaturas superficiais dos pés das aves não diferiram entre os grupos. As temperaturas superficiais mínimas dentro dos escores eram similares, com exceção do escore 3, que não teve em A1. Houve prevalência de mais injúrias severas no aviário com cama nova.

Thermal comfort monitoring in aviaries by a real-time data acquisition system

“…Recent experimental approaches to evaluate thermal comfort in broilers include: the use of thermal imaging (Nascimento et al, 2014) associated with the usual/typical variables, but requires high-cost measuring instruments and no records in real-time; obtaining thermal maps via real-time environment monitoring using 50 temperature sensors and 18 6. Temperature (left) and airflow speed (right), numerical (top) versus experimental (bottom); Boundary condition -Heat flux (q'' = 81.8 W m -2 ) and airflow (m = 9.7 kg s -1 ; P outlet = 30 Pa) for RH (Coelho et al, 2015); thermography for animal health (footpad dermatitis) enabling diagnosis of not visible injuries (Jacob et al, 2016); enthalpy mapping in poultry barns (Ferraz et al, 2016); use of LED -light emitting diodes to improve energy efficiency, i.e., lower electricity consumption, in aviaries (Thomson & Corscadden, 2018); CFD flow simulation for ventilation systems evaluation in poultry barns (Curi et al, 2017); development and construction of PIC microcontroller (Peripherical Interface Controller) for variables supervision and control via commercial software and hardware (Proteus ISI Professional v.8 and MATLAB v. 7.8) (Alecrim et al, 2017).…”

Use of Thermography in Reconstructive Surgery Associated With Laser Therapy—Review of Literature

“…demonstrated its efficacy in the early detection of laminitis in sheeps, suggesting its use for this purpose. The same occurs with galliformes, where it was possible to prevent pododermatitis in broiler chickens even before macroscopic lesion detection, correlating the decrease of the local temperature in the points before the appearance of the affection of the legs(Jacob et al, 2016) and evaluation of the thermal stress suffered by birds(Nascimento et al, 2014). In pigs, it was possible to evaluate the stress of piglets in the crèche phase, correlating the ocular temperature increase with the cortisol increase of the animals (Pulido-Rodriguéz et al, 2017).…”

Multi-Attribute Evaluation and Selection of Broiler House for the Low Prevalence of Footpad Lesion

“…High litter pH and temperature can cause damaging consequences to broilers (Jacob et al, 2016). The increase in ammonia emission levels due to poor litter quality affects the respiratory tract and may cause footpad dermatitis (FPD), hock burns, and breast lesions (Mendes et al, 2012;Carvalho et al, 2015).…”

“…In addition, poor environment and litter conditions affect broiler welfare, and it may lead to leg conditions (Jonge and Van Trijp, 2013;Tuyttens et al, 2014;Souza et al, 2015). The severity of the lesions caused by poor litter is correlated with the environmental rearing conditions (Hashinomoto et al, 2011;Jacob et al, 2016).…”

“…After the breast and wings, broiler feet are the third most important economic as they account for the third largest demand for exports (Jacob et al, 2016). An important management criterion to broiler growers is the identification of broiler houses with high FPD prevalence, as this information may allow applying measures to mitigate possible losses during live production.…”