Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T16:14:26.440Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Development of a pododermatitis score in breeding does using clustering methods

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 January 2013

I. Olivas
Affiliation:
Centro de Tecnología Animal CITA-IVIA, Polígono La Esperanza 100, 12400, Segorbe, Castellón, Spain
A. G. Torres
Affiliation:
Instituto de Ciencia Animal, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Camino de Vera s/n, 46022 Valencia, Spain
A. Villagrá*
Affiliation:
Centro de Tecnología Animal CITA-IVIA, Polígono La Esperanza 100, 12400, Segorbe, Castellón, Spain
*
Get access

Abstract

Pododermatitis in rabbit production is an important welfare problem and there is less information on this type of lesion in rabbits than in many other species. The aim of this work was to develop a scoring system to assess the presence and severity of pododermatitis through observation of 1367 photos of rabbit feet by two observers. Different groups of lesions were established according to color, size, presence of chaps, presence of ulcers, shape, appearance and presence of blood in each observed foot. A two-step cluster methodology was used to gather the results in homogenous and objective units. The inter-rater agreement was moderate, and after the cluster analysis four main clusters were obtained. These clusters were later comprehensively described in terms of pododermatitis severity. Finally, attending to cluster description, a five-level score was defined and this scale resulted in a practical and objective way to assess pododermatitis in rabbit does. Cluster analysis provided a detailed characterization of this type of lesions and helped to obtain uniform scores.

Type
Behaviour, welfare and health
Copyright
Copyright © The Animal Consortium 2013

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baselga, M 2002. Rabbit genetic resources in Mediterranean countries: Line A, Line V, Line H and Line R. Options Méditerranéennes 38, 221252.Google Scholar
Byrd-Bredbenner, C, Abbot, JM, Cussler, E 2008. Mothers of young children cluster into 4 groups based on psychographic food decision influencers. Nutrition Research 28, 506516.Google Scholar
Cohen, J 1960. A coefficient of agreement for nominal scales. Educational and Psychological Measurements 20, 3746.Google Scholar
Cole-Rodgers, P, Smith, DW, Bosland, PW 1997. A novel statistical approach to analyze genetic resource evaluations using Capsicum as an example. Crop Science 37, 10001002.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drescher, B, Schlender-Böbbis, L 1996. Etude pathologique de la pododermatite chez les lapins reproducteurs de souche lourde sur grillace. World Rabbit Science 4, 143148.Google Scholar
Ekstrand, C, Carpenter, TE, Andersson, I, Algers, B 1998. Prevalence and control of foot-pad dermatitis in broilers in Sweden. British Poultry Science 39, 318324.Google Scholar
European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) 2005. Scientific report “The impact of the current housing and husbandry systems on the health and welfare of farmed domestic rabbits”. EFSA-Q-2004-023. EFSA J 267, 1–31. Annex. Retrieved May 29, 2012, from http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/efsajournal/doc/267.pdf.Google Scholar
Greenough, PR, Vermunt, JJ, McKinnon, JJ, Fathy, AA, Berg, PA, Cohen, RHD 1990. Laminitis-like changes in the claws of feedlot cattle. Canadian Veterinary Journal 31, 202207.Google ScholarPubMed
Harvey, C 1995. Rabbit and rodent skin deseases. Seminars in Avian and Exotic Pet Medicine 4, 195204.Google Scholar
Landis, JR, Koch, GG 1977. The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. Biometrics 33, 159174.Google Scholar
Leach, KA, Logue, DN, Randall, JM, Kempson, SA 1998. Claw lesions in dairy cattle: methods for assessment of sole and white line lesions. Veterinary Journal 155, 91102.Google Scholar
Martrenchar, A, Boilletot, E, Huonnic, D, Pol, F 2002. Risk factors for foot-pad dermatitis in chicken and turkey broilers in France. Preventive Veterinary Medicine 52, 213226.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pagazaurtundua, A, Warriss, PD 2006. Measurements of footpad dermatitis in broiler chickens at processing plants. Veterinary Record 158, 679682.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rommers, JM, Meijerhof, R 1996. The effect of different floor types on footpad injuries of rabbit does. In Proceedings of 6th World Rabbit Congress, Vol. 2, 9–12 July, Toulouse, France, pp. 431–436.Google Scholar
Rosell, JM, de la Fuente, LF 2009a. Culling and mortality in breeding rabbits. Preventive Veterinary Medicine 88, 120127.Google Scholar
Rosell, JM, de la Fuente, LF 2009b. Effect of footrests on the incidence of ulcerative pododermatitis in domestic rabbit does. Animal Welfare 18, 199204.Google Scholar
SAS ® 2009. SAS/STAT user's guide (release 9.1). SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA.Google Scholar
Schonlau, M 2004. Visualizing non-hierarchical and hierarchical cluster analyses with clustergrams. Computer and Statistics 19, 95111.Google Scholar
Scientific Committee on Animal Health and Animal Welfare (SCAHAW) 2000. The welfare of chickens kept for meat production (broilers). European Commission, Health & Consumer Protection Directorate-General. SANCO.B.3/AH/R15/2000, 150pp. Retrieved May 29, 2012, from http://ec.europa.eu/food/fs/sc/scah/out39_en.pdf.Google Scholar
Sim, J, Wright, CC 2005. The kappa statistic in reliability studies: use, interpretation and sample size requirements. Physical Therapy 85, 257268.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Terril, LA, Clemons, DJ, Wagner, JE 1992. Guinea pigs: noninfectious diseases. In Laboratory Animal Medicine and Science Series II for American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine (ed. GL Van Hoosier, Jr), 13pp. University of Washington Health Sciences Center for Educational Resources, Seattle, WA.Google Scholar
Ward, JH 1963. Hierarchical grouping to optimize an objective function. Journal of the American Statistics Association 58, 236244.Google Scholar
Webster, AB, Fairchild, BD, Cummings, TS, Stayer, PA 2008. Validation of a three-point gait-scoring system for field assessment of walking ability of commercial broilers. Journal of Applied Poultry Research 17, 529539.Google Scholar
Welfare Quality® 2009. Welfare Quality® assessment protocol for poultry (broilers, laying hens). Welfare Quality® Consortium, Lelystad, Netherlands, 114pp.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Olivas Supplementary Material

Appendix

Download Olivas Supplementary Material(File)
File 5.9 MB
Supplementary material: File

Olivas Supplementary Material

Appendix

Download Olivas Supplementary Material(File)
File 571.3 KB