Identification of a practical and reliable method for the evaluation of litter moisture in turkey production

ABSTRACT

1. An experiment was conducted to compare 5 different methods for the evaluation of litter moisture.

2. For litter collection and assessment, 55 farms were selected, one shed from each farm was inspected and 9 points were identified within each shed.

3. For each device, used for the evaluation of litter moisture, mean and standard deviation of wetness measures per collection point were assessed.

4. The reliability and overall consistency between the 5 instruments used to measure wetness were high (α = 0.72).

5. Measurement of three out of the 9 collection points were sufficient to provide a reliable assessment of litter moisture throughout the shed.

6. Based on the direct correlation between litter moisture and footpad lesions, litter moisture measurement can be used as a resource based on-farm animal welfare indicator.

7. Among the 5 methods analysed, visual scoring is the most simple and practical, and therefore the best candidate to be used on-farm for animal welfare assessment.

KEYWORDS:

• Bedding quality
• environment
• foot pad dermatitis
• litter moisture
• poultry
• welfare

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the cooperation with industrial partners: Aviagen Turkeys, Chester UK; Unaitalia (Italian Meat and Egg Association), Rome, Italy. Società Agricola La Pellegrina (Gruppo Veronesi), Verona Italy. GESCO Società Cooperativa Agricola (Gruppo Amadori), Cesena Italy.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

The experiment was funded by the FP7 ERA-Net ANIHWA, ‘Coordination of European Research on Animal Health and Welfare’ project TURKEYWELFARE [number 182]. The Roslin Institute is supported by an Institute Core Strategic Grant from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council [BB/J004316/1].