Pre-slaughter losses of broilers: effect of time period of the day and lairage time in a subtropical climate

Abstract

Mortality losses of broilers during pre-slaughter operations consists of actual challenge for maintaining world leadership of Brazilian poultry industry. In relation to thermal environment and its influence on abattoirs' handling, some studies has advanced about the knowledge of these variables on poultry welfare. However, few studies was developed in subtropical conditions, considering a joint analysis of involved thermal factors. In this context, the aim of this work was to assess the mortality of broiler chickens transported throughout daily periods and submitted to different lairage time intervals. A trial was conducted in a commercial slaughterhouse at São Paulo state, during 2006. More than 13,000 loads was registered regarding broiler mortality data during pre-slaughter operations, as well as factors which had influence on losses, such as daily periods, lairage time and bioclimatic variables. Higher mortality rates of broiler transportation were registered during afternoon, around 13 birds per truck. Regarding the interaction between daily periods and lairage time at abattoir, during morning and afternoon, the mortality rate was reduced when birds were submitted to a lairage time of two hours in a controlled environment. These results showed the high level of pre-slaughter losses during hottest periods and the importance of environment control during pre-slaughter lairage of broiler chickens, with adoption of increasing time intervals when lairage environment is controlled. Key words: Environmental science, poultry logistics, poultry production, welfare ResumoAs perdas por mortalidade nas operações pré-abate de frangos de corte constituem-se desafios atuais na manutenção da liderança do setor avícola brasileiro no cenário mundial. Com relação ao ambiente térmico e sua influência no manejo em abatedouros, algumas pesquisas têm avançado quanto ao entendimento destas variáveis no bem-estar das aves. Entretanto, poucos estudos foram realizados em condições subtropicais, considerando a análise conjunta dos fatores térmicos envolvidos. Neste contexto, objetivou-se avaliar a mortalidade de frangos de corte, transportados ao longo dos períodos diários e submetidos aos diferentes intervalos de tempo de espera em abatedouro. A pesquisa foi conduzida em Quanto à interação entre períodos diários e tempo de espera em abatedouro, durante o período da manhã e tarde, a mortalidade foi menor quando as aves foram submetidas ao tempo de espera acima de duas horas em galpão climatizado. Tais resultados evidenciam o nível de perdas pré-abate por mortalidade em períodos quentes a importância da ambiência durante a espera pré-abate de frangos de corte, com a adoção de intervalos de tempo maiores quando o ambiente de espera for climatizado.

Effects of Transportation Distance, Slaughter Age, and Seasonal Factors on Total Losses in Broiler Chickens

“…However, total loss significantly increased when broilers were transported for long distances during winter, reaching a similar level of that recorded during the summer. Vieira et al (2015) observed that the highest level of pre-slaughter losses occurred during hottest periods and emphasized the importance of environmental control during preslaughter lairage of broiler chickens in their research conducted in Brazil.…”

“…Economic losses in broiler production occur particularly during catching of the broilers on the farms, loading into vehicles, transportation conditions, and lairage time in the processing plant (Warriss et al, 1992;Nijdam et al, 2004;Schwartzkopf-Genswein et al, 2012;Vieira et al, 2015;Vecerek et al 2016).…”

Transportation stress: Impact on behaviour and welfare in meat-type chickens under indian scenario

“…In production chain of boilers, transportation is considered as a critical point which involves pre-transport handling, long-term feed and water deprivation, social disruption, noise, over-crowding, motion as well as vibration, and thermal extremes leads to stress and consequent losses of yield parameters [ 1 ]. During transportation, the birds could experience acute stress leading to physiological and behavioural changes [ 2 ] such as extreme fearfulness and economic losses to the producers [ 3 , 4 ]. Transport stress causes physiological changes in muscles which affects the carcass quality of the birds during slaughter [ 5 ].…”

Influence of feed additive on the biological value of broiler chickens’ white meat protein in technological stress conditions

“…Mortality rates during the pre-slaughter period depend on many factors: poultry immunity, catching method, placement density, ambient temperature, conditions and duration of transport, distance to the slaughter point and conditions of preslaughter care [1,2,3,4]. The most frequent causes of broilers' death during the pre-slaughter period is the so-called "sudden death syndrome" and injuries, including fractures and liver ruptures [5].…”