The effect of the diet on incidence of footpad lesions and productivity of broilers

Abstract

Nutrition factors are considered to be very important for incidence of foot-pad dermatitis through the effect on the quality of litter. Objective of this study was to investigate the effect of the use of two feeding programs for broilers available on the market and declared in the nutritional/economical sense as standard and economical, on quality of litter, incidence of leg dermatitis (foot-pad and hock burns) and production performance. Trial was carried out on 500 one day old chickens of Hubbard genotype, in two treatments and five replicates. Chopped straw was used as litter. During the trial, the mortality and food consumption were monitored, and at the end of trial the body mass was controlled, as well as the incidence of foot-pad and hock burns and their severity were evaluated and quality of litter analyzed. Research results indicate significant effect of the diets from the aspect of broiler welfare and productivity. Application of the feeding program declared in the nutritional/economical sense as economical resulted in higher content of litter moisture, significantly higher frequency of incidence of the most severe forms of foot-pad dermatitis and significantly lower broiler performance.

Ishranbeni faktori se smatraju veoma značajnim za nastanak dermatitisa na nožnim jastučićima brojlera preko uticaja na kvalitet prostirke. Cilj rada je bio ispitivanje efekta upotrebe dva, tržišno dostupna programa ishrane brojlera koji su deklarisani u nutritivno/ekonomskom smislu kao standardan i ekonomičan, na kvalitet prostirke, pojavu dermatitisa na nogama i proizvodne performanse. Ogled je izveden na 500 jednodnevnih pilića genotipa Hubbard, sa dva tretmana i pet ponavljanja. Za prostirku je korišćena seckana slama. Tokom ogleda su evidentirani mortalitet i utrošak hrane a na kraju ogleda je izvršena kontrola telesne mase, ocena pojave i težine oblika lezija na nožnim jastučićima i skočnim zglobovima, analiza kvaliteta prostirke. Rezultati istraživanja su ukazali na značajan efekat programa ishrane sa stanovišta dobrobiti i produktivnosti brojlera. Primena programa ishrane deklarisanog u nutritivno/ekonomskom smislu kao ekonomičnog, rezultirala je većim sadržajem vlage u prostirci, značajno većom frekvencijom pojavljivanja najtežih oblika dermatitisa na nožnim jastučićima i značajno lošijim performansama brojlera.