Wageningen Livestock Research, Wageningen University & Research, PO Box 338, 6700 AH, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Wageningen Livestock Research, Wageningen University & Research, PO Box 338, 6700 AH, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Poult Sci. 2022 Jul;101(7):101933. doi: 10.1016/j.psj.2022.101933. Epub 2022 Apr 28.
There is a trend toward broiler production systems with higher welfare requirements, that use slower growing broiler strains, apply a reduced stocking density and provide environmental enrichment. Although these separate factors each contribute to increased broiler welfare, there is little information on their combined effect on broiler welfare under commercial conditions, and on the variation in welfare performance of flocks within production systems. The aim of this study was to compare the welfare performance and the between-flock variation in welfare of 3 Dutch commercial broiler production systems differing in welfare requirements: Conventional (C), Dutch Retail Broiler (DRB) and Better Life one star (BLS). We applied a welfare assessment method based on the Welfare Quality broiler assessment protocol, in which we used 5 animal-based welfare measures collected by slaughterhouses and hatcheries (mortality, footpad dermatitis, hock burn, breast irritation, scratches), and 3 resource- or management-based measures (stocking density, early feeding, environmental enrichment). Data were collected for at least 1889 flocks per production system over a 2-year period. To compare the different measures and to generate an overall flock welfare score, we calculated a score on a scale from 0 to 100 (bad-good) for each measure based on expert opinion. The overall flock score was the sum of the scores of the different welfare measures. The results showed that with increasing welfare requirements, a higher total welfare score was found across production systems (BLS > DRB > C; P < 0.0001). Regarding individual measures, C generally had lower (worse) scores than BLS and DRB (P < 0.05), except for scratches where C had highest (best) score (P < 0.001). Both welfare measure scores and the total welfare score of flocks showed large variation within and overlap between systems, and the latter especially when only the animal-based measures were included in the total flock score. Total flock score ranges including animal-based measures only were: 112.1 to 488.3 for C, 113.0 to 486.9 for DRB, 151.3 to 490.0 for BLS (on a scale from 0 [bad]-500 [good]), with median values of 330.8 for C, 370.9 for DRB, and 396.1 for BLS respectively. This indicates that factors such as farm management and day-old chick quality can have a major effect on the welfare performance of a flock and that there is room for welfare improvement in all production systems.
目前，肉鸡生产系统呈现出更高福利要求的发展趋势，使用生长速度较慢的肉鸡品种，降低饲养密度，并提供环境丰容。尽管这些单独的因素都有助于提高肉鸡的福利，但关于它们在商业条件下对肉鸡福利的综合影响，以及不同生产系统中鸡群福利表现的差异，信息仍然很少。本研究的目的是比较 3 种荷兰商业肉鸡生产系统的福利表现和鸡群福利的变异性，这 3 种生产系统的福利要求不同：常规（C）、荷兰零售肉鸡（DRB）和一星美好生活（BLS）。我们应用了一种基于福利质量肉鸡评估方案的福利评估方法，其中我们使用了由屠宰场和孵化场收集的 5 种基于动物的福利措施（死亡率、脚垫皮炎、跗关节烧伤、胸部刺激、抓痕）和 3 种基于资源或管理的措施（饲养密度、早期喂养、环境丰容）。在 2 年的时间里，至少为每个生产系统收集了 1889 个鸡群的数据。为了比较不同的措施并生成鸡群的整体福利评分，我们根据专家意见，为每个措施在 0 到 100 分的范围内（差-好）计算了一个评分。整体鸡群评分是不同福利措施评分的总和。结果表明，随着福利要求的提高，生产系统之间的总福利评分也更高（BLS>DRB>C；P<0.0001）。关于个别措施，C 通常比 BLS 和 DRB 的得分（P<0.05）更低（更差），除了抓痕，C 的得分（P<0.001）最高（最好）。鸡群的福利措施评分和整体福利评分都存在较大的变异性，并且在系统之间存在重叠，尤其是当仅将基于动物的措施纳入整体鸡群评分时。仅包括基于动物的措施的整体鸡群评分范围为：C 为 112.1 至 488.3，DRB 为 113.0 至 486.9，BLS 为 151.3 至 490.0（0[差]-500[好]），中位数分别为 330.8、370.9 和 396.1。这表明，农场管理和雏鸡质量等因素可能对鸡群的福利表现产生重大影响，所有生产系统都有提高福利的空间。
