Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-mwx4w Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-04T20:32:24.944Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Validation of histological and visual scoring systems for foot-pad dermatitis in broiler chickens

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

A Piller ,
S Bergmann ,
A Schwarzer ,
M Erhard ,
J Stracke ,
B Spindler ,
N Kemper ,
P Schmidt ,
J Bachmeier  and
B Schade
...Show all authors
A Piller
Affiliation:
Department of Veterinary Sciences, Chair of Animal Welfare, Animal Behaviour, Animal Hygiene and Animal Husbandry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, LMU Munich, Veterinärstraße 13/R, 80539 Munich, Germany
S Bergmann
Affiliation:
Department of Veterinary Sciences, Chair of Animal Welfare, Animal Behaviour, Animal Hygiene and Animal Husbandry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, LMU Munich, Veterinärstraße 13/R, 80539 Munich, Germany
A Schwarzer
Affiliation:
Department of Veterinary Sciences, Chair of Animal Welfare, Animal Behaviour, Animal Hygiene and Animal Husbandry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, LMU Munich, Veterinärstraße 13/R, 80539 Munich, Germany
M Erhard
Affiliation:
Department of Veterinary Sciences, Chair of Animal Welfare, Animal Behaviour, Animal Hygiene and Animal Husbandry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, LMU Munich, Veterinärstraße 13/R, 80539 Munich, Germany
J Stracke
Affiliation:
Institute for Animal Hygiene, Animal Welfare and Farm Animal Behaviour, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, Bischofsholer Damm 15, 30173 Hannover, Germany
B Spindler
Affiliation:
Institute for Animal Hygiene, Animal Welfare and Farm Animal Behaviour, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, Bischofsholer Damm 15, 30173 Hannover, Germany
N Kemper
Affiliation:
Institute for Animal Hygiene, Animal Welfare and Farm Animal Behaviour, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, Bischofsholer Damm 15, 30173 Hannover, Germany
P Schmidt
Affiliation:
Paul Schmidt, Statistical Consulting for Science and Research, Große Seestr 8, 13086 Berlin, Germany
J Bachmeier
Affiliation:
Veterinary Practice, Grüner Weg 19, 94315 Straubing, Germany
B Schade
Affiliation:
Bavarian Animal Health Service, Department of Pathology, Senator-Gerauer-Str 23, 85586 Poing, Germany
B Boehm
Affiliation:
Bavarian Animal Health Service, Department of Pathology, Senator-Gerauer-Str 23, 85586 Poing, Germany
E Kappe
Affiliation:
Bavarian Animal Health Service, Department of Pathology, Senator-Gerauer-Str 23, 85586 Poing, Germany
H Louton*
Affiliation:
Department of Veterinary Sciences, Chair of Animal Welfare, Animal Behaviour, Animal Hygiene and Animal Husbandry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, LMU Munich, Veterinärstraße 13/R, 80539 Munich, Germany
*
* Contact for correspondence: [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

In this study, an appropriate visual scoring system for foot-pad dermatitis was validated, considering the histologically measured depth of the inflammation zone and the histopathological grade (no lesion, mild lesion, ulcer). The aim being to evaluate whether the visual, macroscopic scoring of foot-pad dermatitis can represent the histological, microscopic findings. Two hundred Ross 308 broiler chicken feet (birds aged 39-42 fattening days) were collected at a slaughterhouse and scored macroscopically according to a modified version of the Welfare Quality® Assessment Protocol for Poultry. Afterwards, 200 histological slides (one per foot) were prepared, the extent of the inflammation measured and all slides scored by veterinarian pathologists using Michel et al's modified scheme. The statistical relationship between microscopic and macroscopic score and depth of inflammation were estimated via regression models. Increasing macroscopic score was found to be linked with an increase in microscopic score and the depth of inflammation. In particular, feet without lesions and feet with ulcers were identifiable using the macroscopic score. Macroscopic scoring of foot-pad dermatitis can mirror histological findings once certain limitations are taken into account (superficial lesions were not clearly identifiable). Foot-pad dermatitis is considered a useful indicator of animal welfare and our findings suggest that visual, macroscopic scoring could be a practicable assessment tool.

Keywords

animal welfareanimal welfare indicatorbroilerfoot-pad dermatitishistological validationpoultry
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , May 2020 , pp. 185 - 196
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial reuse or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

References

Algers, B and Berg, C 2001 Monitoring animal welfare on com-mercial broiler farms in Sweden. Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section A, Animal Science 51: 88–92. https://doi.org/10.1080/090647001316923135Google Scholar
Allain, V, Mirabito, L, Arnould, C, Colas, M, Le Bouquin, S, Lupo, C and Michel, V 2009 Skin lesions in broiler chickens mea-sured at the slaughterhouse: Relationships between lesions and between their prevalence and rearing factors. British Poultry Science 50: 407–417. https://doi.org/10.1080/00071660903110901CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arnould, C and Colin, L 2008 Relation between a simple mea-sure of activity, lameness and pododermatitis in meat type chi-ckens. In: Koene, P (ed) Book of Abstracts of the 4th International Workshop on the Assessment of Animal Welfare at Farm and Group Level p 73. 10-13 September 2008, Ghent, Belgium. Ponsen and Looijen: Wageningen, The NetherlandsGoogle Scholar
Ask, B 2010 Genetic variation of contact dermatitis in broilers. Poultry Science 89: 866–875. https://doi.org/10.3382/ps.2009-00496CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bilgili, SF, Alley, MA, Hess, JB and Nagaraj, M 2006 Influence of age and sex on footpad quality and yield in broiler chickens rea-red on low and high density diets. The Journal of Applied Poultry Research 15: 433–441. https://doi.org/10.1093/japr/15.3.433CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bruce, DW, McIlroy, SG and Goodall, EA 1990 Epidemiology of a contact dermatitis of broilers. Avian Pathology 19: 532–537. https://doi.org/10.1080/03079459008418705CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bürkner, PC 2017 brms: An R package for Bayesian multilevel models using Stan. Journal of Statistical Software 80: 1–28. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v080.i01CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Byrt, T, Bishop, J and Carlin, JB 1993 Bias, prevalence and kappa. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology 46: 423–429. https://doi.org/10.1016/0895-4356(93)90018-VCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carpenter, B, Gelman, A, Hoffman, MD, Lee, D, Goodrich, B, Betancourt, M, Brubaker, M, Guo, J, Li, P and Riddell, A 2017 Stan: A probabilistic programming language. Journal of Statistical Software 76: https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v076.i01CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ekstrand, C, Algers, B and Svedberg, J 1997 Rearing conditi-ons and foot-pad dermatitis in Swedish broiler chickens. Preventive Veterinary Medicine 31: 167–174. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-5877(96)01145-2CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ekstrand, C, Carpenter, TE, Andersson, I and Algers, B 1998 Prevalence and control of foot-pad dermatitis in broilers in Sweden. British Poultry Science 39: 318–324. https://doi.org/10.1080/00071669888845CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
European Commission Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety 2016 Use of slaughterhouse data to monitor wel-fare of broilers on farm. Luxembourg Publications Office of the European Union: LuxembourgGoogle Scholar
German Order on the Protection of Animals and the Keeping of Production Animals 2006 Amended and promulga-ted on August 22nd, 2006, last changed on February 5th, 2014. Verordnung zum Schutz landwirtschaftlicher Nutztiere und anderer zur Erzeugung tierischer Produkte gehaltener Tiere bei ihrer Haltung; Tierschutz–Nutztierhaltungsverordnung (TierSchNutztV) in der Fassung der Bekanntmachung vom 22 August 2006 (BGBI. I S. 2043), die durch Artikel 1 der Verordnung vom 5 Februar 2014 (BGBI. I S. 94) geändert worden istGoogle Scholar
Greene, JA, McCracken, RM and Evans, RT 1985 A contact dermatitis of broilers — clinical and pathological findings. Avian Pathology 14: 23–38. https://doi.org/10.1080/03079458508436205CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gunnarsson, S, Algers, B and Svedberg, J 2000 Description and evaluation of a scoring system of clinical health in laying hens. In: Gunnarsson, S (ed) Laying Hens in Loose Housing Systems. Doctoral Thesis, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, SwedenGoogle Scholar
Haslam, SM, Knowles, TG, Brown, SN, Wilkins, LJ, Kestin, SC, Warriss, PD and Nicol, CJ 2007 Factors affecting the pre-valence of foot pad dermatitis, hock burn and breast burn in broi-ler chicken. British Poultry Science 48: 264–275. https://doi.org/10.1080/00071660701371341CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heitmann, S, Stracke, J, Petersen, H, Spindler, B and Kemper, N 2018 First approach validating a scoring system for foot-pad dermatitis in broiler chickens developed for application in practice. Preventive Veterinary Medicine 154: 63–70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.prevetmed.2018.03.013CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hocking, PM and Wu, K 2013 Traditional and commercial tur-keys show similar susceptibility to foot pad dermatitis and beha-vioural evidence of pain. British Poultry Science 54: 281–288. https://doi.org/10.1080/00071668.2013.781265Google Scholar
Implementary Rules of the Lower Saxonian Ministry of Nutrition 2015 Agriculture and consumer protection for §20 (4; 5). Latest Edition: 31 July 2015, from the German Order on the Protection of Animals and the Keeping of Production Animals (2006). http://www.nds-voris.de/jportal/portal/t/ji3/page/bsvorisprod.psml;jsessionid=8F93D E217C1A385FC1EBBE0F60477.jp27?pid=Dokumentanzeige&show-doccase=1&js_peid=Trefferliste&documentnumber=1&numbero-fresults=1&fromdoctodoc=yes&doc.id=VVND-VVND000035929#focuspointGoogle Scholar
Landis, JR and Koch, G 1977 The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. Biometrics 33: 159–174. https://doi.org/10.2307/2529310CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Louton, H, Erhard, M and Wöhr, A 2018 Acquisition of animal-based welfare measures at slaughter of poultry. Fleischwirtschaft 11: 94–98Google Scholar
Martland, MF 1985 Ulcerative dermatitis in broiler chickens: The effects of wet litter. Avian Pathology 14: 353–364. https://doi.org/10.1080/03079458508436237CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Martrenchar, A, Boilletot, E, Huonnic, D and Pol, F 2002 Risk factors for foot-pad dermatitis in chicken and turkey broilers in France. Preventive Veterinary Medicine 52: 213–226. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-5877(01)00259-8CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mayne, RK, Hocking, PM and Else, RW 2006 Foot pad der-matitis develops at an early age in commercial turkeys. British Poultry Science 47: 36–42. https://doi.org/10.1080/00071660500475392CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McKeegan, D 2010 Foot pad dermatitis and hock burn in broilers: Risk factors, aetiology and welfare consequences. Research Project Final Report, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK. http://randd.defra.gov.uk/Default.aspx?Menu=Menu&Module=More&Location=None&Completed=0&ProjectID=14546Google Scholar
Meluzzi, A, Fabbri, C, Folegatti, E and Sirri, F 2008 Survey of chicken rearing conditions in Italy: Effects of litter quality and sto-cking density on productivity, foot dermatitis and carcase injuries. British Poultry Science 49: 257–264. https://doi.org/10.1080/00071660802094156CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Michel, V, Prampart, E, Mirabito, L, Allain, V, Arnould, C, Huonnic, D, Le Bouquin, S and Albaric, O 2012 Histologically validated footpad dermatitis scoring system for use in chicken processing plants. British Poultry Science 53: 275–281. https://doi.org/10.1080/00071668.2012.695336CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
R Core Team 2018 R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing: Vienna, Austria. https://www.R-project.org/Google Scholar
Saraiva, S, Saraiva, C and Stilwell, G 2016 Feather conditions and clinical scores as indicators of broilers welfare at the slaughterhouse. Research in Veterinary Science 107: 75–79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rvsc.2016.05.005CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shepherd, EM and Fairchild, BD 2010 Foot-pad dermatitis in poultry. Poultry Science 89: 2043–2051. https://doi.org/10.3382/ps.2010-00770CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spindler, B and Hartung, J 2011 Prevalence of pododermatitis in broiler chicken kept according to Directive 2007/43/EC Stocking Densities. XVth ISAH Congress on Animal Hygiene International Society for Animal Hygiene (ISAH) pp 39–42. 3-7 July 2011, Vienna, AustriaGoogle Scholar
Weber Wyneken, C, Sinclair, A, Veldkamp, T, Vinco, LJ and Hocking, PM 2015 Foot-pad dermatitis and pain assessment in turkey poults using analgesia and objective gait analysis. British Poultry Science 56: 522–530. https://doi.org/10.1080/00071668.2015.1077203Google Scholar
Welfare Quality® 2009 Welfare Quality® Assessment Protocol for Poultry (Broilers, Laying Hens). Welfare Quality® Consortium: Lelystad, The NetherlandsGoogle Scholar
Wideman, RF Jr 2016 Bacterial chondronecrosis with osteomy-elitis and lameness in broilers: A review. Poultry Science 95: 325–344. https://doi.org/10.3382/ps/pev320CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilcox, CS, Patterson, J and Cheng, HW 2009 Use of ther-mography to screen for subclinical bumblefoot in poultry. Poultry Science 88: 1176–1180. https://doi.org/10.3382/ps.2008-00446CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed