High dietary biotin levels affect the footpad and hock health of broiler chickens reared at different stocking densities and litter conditions

Abstract

Responses to stocking density (SD), dietary biotin concentration and litter condition were evaluated on 2016 Ross 308 male broilers in the fattening period (day 22-day 42). The birds were placed in 48 pens with either dry or wet litter to simulate the final stocking density of 30 kg (12 broilers/m ; normal stocking density, NSD) and 40 kg (16 broilers/m ; high stocking density, HSD) of body weight (BW)/m floor space. A corn-soybean meal-based diet was supplemented with biotin to provide a normal (NB; 155 μg/kg) or high (HB, 1521 μg/kg) level of dietary biotin. There were six repetitions per treatment. The inappropriate moisture content of litter associated with HSD was avoided (p < 0.05) by good management (SD difference: dry litter, 6.65% vs. wet litter, 13.23%; 42 days), which made it advantageous (p < 0.01) for footpad (SD difference: dry litter, 0.118 vs. wet litter, 0.312; weekly average value) and hock health (SD difference: dry litter, 0.090 vs. wet litter, 0.303; weekly average value) of HSD birds, but not (p > 0.05) for growth and processing yield. In HSD, the biotin effect (gains, FCR) was significantly higher (p < 0.01) than in NSD. The similar response of HSD birds to supplemental biotin was observed (p < 0.05) for lesion scores of footpad and hock in particularly finishing chickens, and a significant interaction (p < 0.01) among stocking density, biotin supplementation and litter condition existed from 35 to 42 days of age. Taken together, increasing dietary biotin improves the performance and well-being of broiler chickens stocked at high densities in litter-independent and litter-dependent manners respectively.

Dietary strategies to alleviate high-stocking-density-induced stress in broiler chickens – a comprehensive review

“…It was found that biotin added to the diet had a positive effect on the welfare status of broilers under HSD conditions, but not on performance measures (Hao et al, 2014). In their study, Sun et al (2017) also reported the improvement effect of biotin on the growth, FCR and welfare of high-density reared broiler chicks. Considering the essential role of biotin in metabolic process, supplementing such vitamins may therefore be beneficial for improving the growth and feed efficiency of overcrowded broilers.…”

Nutritional requirements of meat-type and egg-type ducks: what do we know?

“…Diets containing inadequate amounts of biotin can lead to fatty liver and kidney syndrome, a low hatchability rate, low growth rate, and the increased occurrence of foot pad dermatitis in birds [ 114 – 119 ]. Thus, injecting biotin into fertilized eggs, adding biotin to drinking water, or supplementing the diet with biotin can improve egg production, fertility, hatchability, and body weight gains, as well as decreasing the footpad burn score and hock burn score [ 120 – 123 ]. Zhu et al [ 119 ] reported that diets containing 0.180 mg biotin/kg satisfy the productive performance requirements for male White Pekin ducks during the first 4 wk of age, but dietary supplementation with 0.21 mg biotin/kg is needed to minimize the number of birds suffering from foot pad dermatitis.…”

Effects of Different Levels of Dietary Biotin on The Performance, Apparent Digestibility And Carcass Characteristics of Broilers

“…The results of this study indicated that dietary supplementation of biotin had no significant effect on carcass characteristic, organs relative weight and foot pad lesion score at day 35. This was the case in (Sun et al,. 2017) studies when dietary biotin had no significant improvement on foot pad lesion score.…”