The Histological Characteristics of Footpad Dermatitis in a Fast-Growing Broiler Chickens Raised on Different Floor Housing Systems

Abstract

Broiler housing and management have become important for both manufacturers and researchers, with the increasing commercial demand over the years. The most important factor that creates the management conditions is floor housing system selection. The reason floor housing systems are important is that they allow broilers to reduce contact with the excreta and help excess moisture to be absorbed and controlling ammonia level. Poor litter conditions trigger painful pododermatitis that will affect animal welfare. Footpad dermatitis is a form of contact dermatitis affecting skin and has most commonly been associated with poor litter condition or irritating and unsuitable materials in broilers. This study was made to investigate the histopathologic characteristics of footpad lesions in fast-growing broiler chickens raised in different floor housing systems. There were four groups in the experiment as conventional deep litter flooring, fully slatted plastic flooring, fully slatted wood flooring, and partially slatted plastic flooring. After the slaughter process, random samples were taken from the birds representing each macro score (if occurred, from 0 to 4) from each group. For histopathologic examinations, footpad samples were fixed, and routine histological examinations were applied. Microscopic examination has been defined in five different scores, from the non-lesion score 0 to the score 4 with severe necrosis. As a result of macroscopic and microscopic evaluations, it has been determined that plastic and wooden slatt materials have positive effects on foot health. Focusing future studies on the correlation between the size and depth of macroscopic lesions and the size and depth of histological lesions would be beneficial to determine a reliable correspondence between antemortem and postmortem lesion score of footpad in broiler.