Akter Suraiya, Liu Yingying, Cheng Bin, Classen John, Oviedo Edgar, Harris Dan, Wang-Li Lingjuan
Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA.
Department of Automation, College of Artificial Intelligence, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China.
Animals (Basel). 2022 Apr 19;12(9):1050. doi: 10.3390/ani12091050.
Broiler chickens exposed to heat stress adapt to various behavioral changes to regulate their comfortable body temperature, which is critical to ensure their performance and welfare. Hence, assessing various behavioral responses in birds when they are subjected to environmental changes can be essential for assessing their welfare under heat-stressed conditions. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of two air velocity (AV) treatments on heavy broilers' behavioral changes from 43 to 54 days under summer conditions. Two AV treatments (high and low) were applied in six poultry growth chambers with three chambers per treatment and 44 COBB broilers per chamber from 28 to 61 days in the summer of 2019. Three video cameras placed inside each chamber (2.44 m × 2.44 m × 2.44 m in dimension) were used to record the behavior of different undisturbed birds, such as feeding, drinking, resting, standing, walking, panting, etc. The results indicate that the number of chickens feeding, drinking, standing, walking, sitting, wing flapping, and leg stretching changed under AV treatments. High AV increased the number of chickens feeding, standing, and walking. Moreover, a two-way interaction with age and the time of day can affect drinking and panting. This study provides insights into heavy broilers' behavioral changes under heat-stressed conditions and AV treatments, which will help guide management practices to improve birds' performance and welfare under commercial conditions in the future.
暴露于热应激的肉鸡会适应各种行为变化来调节其舒适的体温，这对于确保它们的生产性能和健康福利至关重要。因此，评估鸟类在环境变化时的各种行为反应对于评估它们在热应激条件下的健康福利可能至关重要。本研究旨在评估两种风速（AV）处理对夏季条件下43至54日龄重型肉鸡行为变化的影响。2019年夏季，在六个家禽生长室中应用了两种风速处理（高风速和低风速），每种处理三个室，每个室有44只科宝肉鸡，从28日龄饲养至61日龄。每个室（尺寸为2.44米×2.44米×2.44米）内放置的三个摄像机用于记录不同未受干扰鸟类的行为，如进食、饮水、休息、站立、行走、喘气等。结果表明，在风速处理下，进食、饮水、站立、行走、坐卧、拍打翅膀和伸展腿部的鸡的数量发生了变化。高风速增加了进食、站立和行走的鸡的数量。此外，年龄和一天中的时间的双向交互作用会影响饮水和喘气。本研究深入了解了热应激条件和风速处理下重型肉鸡的行为变化，这将有助于指导管理实践，以在未来商业条件下提高家禽的生产性能和健康福利。
