Orange corn diets associated with lower severity of footpad dermatitis in broilers

Abstract

Footpad dermatitis ( FPD ), damage and inflammation of the plantar surface of the foot, is of concern for poultry because FPD affects the birds' welfare and production value. Footpad dermatitis is painful and causes costly chicken paw downgrades, carcass condemnations, and reduced live weights. However, a universal preventative has not been found. The hypothesis was that diets containing orange corn, when compared with diets containing yellow or white corn, would reduce the severity of footpad dermatitis in broiler chickens on wet litter. When compared with yellow and white corn, orange corn contains higher quantities of carotenoids, antioxidant pigments, believed to play a role in skin and feather health. This experiment was a randomized block, 3 × 2 factorial design: orange, yellow, and white corn diets with birds raised on wet or dry litter (control group). Female Ross 708 broilers (n = 960) were used to create 4 replicates of each diet x litter treatment combination. Footpads were scored at day 19, 27, 35, and 42, following the Global Animal Partnership standard's 0–2 scale of visual increasing severity: 0 indicates minimal damage and 1 and 2 indicate mild to severe lesions and ulceration, dark papillae, and/or bumble foot. At 42 d of age, birds on the wet litter had greater severity of FPD, scores 1 and 2, compared with the control group (88 vs. 13% respectively; P < 0.0001). At 42 d of age, prevalence of more severe footpad scores, 1 or 2, was lowest on the orange corn diet (33%), followed by white corn (56%) and yellow corn (63%). Birds fed the orange corn diet had higher BW throughout the study ( P = 0.004) and had fat pads and livers with higher yellow pigment deposition ( P < 0.005). Litter moisture content altered microbiome composition but corn type did not. In conclusion, the main determinant of FPD in this study was exposure to wet litter. When compared with yellow and white corn, orange corn was associated with improved bird growth and reduced severity of footpad dermatitis, especially at later time points.

Welfare of broilers on farm

“…FPD as well as hock burn are common in floor housing systems, mainly because of inappropriate litter management or general health problems. Different bedding materials can help reduce the problem (Kaukonen et al., 2017a ) as well as nutritive supplements (Kim et al., 2017 ; Abraham et al., 2021 ). In broiler breeders a correlation has been shown between the presence of footpad lesions and systemic bacterial infections with Gram‐positive cocci in broiler breeder birds (Thøfner et al., 2019 ).…”

The Effect of Rearing System on Plumage Quality and Foot-Pad Dermatitis in Guinea Fowls and Pheasants

“…The thick epidermis of the foot-pad has a similar structure to scales, claws and beaks, but the keratin components of foot-pad are weaker and more sensitive due to thinner cell layers and the absence of keratin-bound calcium salts (Stettenheim, 1972). FPD is associated with decreased live weight and leg meat yield and increased carcass condemnations (Abraham et al, 2021). Factors such as ration content, litter type, stocking density, rearing system, age and litter moisture are also effective in FPD (Andrews and McPherson, 1963;Jensen et al, 1970;Harms et al, 1977;Dawkins et al, 2004;Bilgili et al, 2006;Buijs et al, 2009;Liebl et al, 2022).…”