Locomotor Problems in Broilers Reared on New and Re-Used Litter

Abstract

Two field trials were conducted to assess locomotor problems in broilers. Males and females broilers were used from two commercial strains reared on two different litter materials, new and re-used. In the first experiment (E1) rice husks and wood shavings were used as new litter, and in the second experiment (E2) the same litter was re-used. A batch of one-day-old chicks (2968) was reared randomly distributed in experimental pens, in a 2¥2¥2 factorial scheme (two genetic strains, two sexes and two litter materials). The same fodder and water were available to all birds ad libitum. Broilers locomotion problems were evaluated using the characteristics of gait score, incidence of valgus and varus, foot-pad lesions, degeneration, femoral, tibial dyschondroplasia, spondylolisthesis and breast calluses. The number of birds with high gait score was less than 30% in the two experiments. Males presented higher gait score (GS) (28.46% GS 1 and 2 compared to females, 20.98%); greater incidence of angular deformities (26.62% with valgus compared to 14.71% of the female); and femoral degenerative joint lesions (70.83% in average, compared to 55.16% of the female), and the correlation between these traits varied from 0.18 to 0.87 (P<0.05). There was an increase of foot-pad lesions in re-used litter leading to poor welfare. The use of rice husks in deep litter for broiler production might be a viable alternative of wood shavings.

Effect of Zinc Level and Source (Zinc Oxide Vs. Zinc Glycine) on Bone Mechanical and Geometric Parameters, and Histomorphology in Male Ross 308 Broiler Chicken

“…Moreover, in due to their fast growth rate, disorders such as bone atrophy, tibial dyschondroplasia or chondrodystrophy are common in broilers (Śliwa et al, 1996;Paz et al, 2013).…”

The ‘sustainability gap’ of US broiler chicken production: trade-offs between welfare, land use and consumption

“…The breeds of chickens permitted by Global Animal Partnership (GAP) are in the Better Chicken Commitment (BCC) Policy [19]. While Ross chickens tend to have higher production than slower-growing chickens, slower-growing chickens have more leg meat, a better quality of meat, improved welfare in terms of activity (feather cover, gait score, breast cleanliness), more exploratory behaviour, better litter quality and lower mortality rates [5][6][7]9,29]. Positive animal welfare has also been linked to farmer well-being, further emphasizing the need to take a One Health approach to quantifying the multiple human, animal and environmental consequences of changing agricultural management [25].…”

“…As the demand for chickens increases, concerns also arise regarding the individual welfare of the chickens in these systems and the damage such practices cause to the surrounding ecosystems and environment, such as greenhouse gas emissions, freshwater pollution, and encroachment of feed cropland into native ecosystems [ 3 ]. Animal welfare concerns of chickens raised for meat in conventional concentrated feeding animal operations (CAFOs) include contact dermatitis [ 4 ], leg lameness [ 5 – 7 ], ascites [ 8 ], locomotor problems [ 9 ] and subtherapeutic antibiotic dosage [ 10 ]. Consequences of such intensive fattening systems include physical and emotional stress from crowded spaces [ 11 ] and poor litter quality [ 7 , 12 ], which increases microbial activity [ 13 ], amplifying the risk of disease transmission [ 14 ] and the proliferation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria [ 15 ].…”