Animal Welfare Assessment in Antibiotic-Free and Conventional Broiler Chicken.

Luigi Iannetti,Michele Podaliri Vulpiani,Sara Romagnoli,Giuseppe Cotturone

doi:10.3390/ani11102822

Luigi Iannetti, Michele Podaliri Vulpiani + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11102822

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Abstract

Simple SummaryAntibiotic resistance in the veterinary field, other than making the control of infectious diseases in farm animals progressively more difficult, can increase the risk that resistant microorganisms are transferred from animals to humans either directly—by contact or from food of animal origin—or indirectly due to environmental contamination. The poultry sector is now moving towards antibiotic-free production in order to meet the rising market demand, but this could affect the health and welfare of chickens. In this study, we compared the welfare of broiler chickens raised with and without the use antibiotics on a commercial scale. We found no correlation between the absence of antibiotics and poor animal health. There is no necessary correlation between the absence of antibiotics at farms and poor health of the animals, given that adequate animal-welfare-friendly management tools and methodologies are in place. These should be, however, adequately standardised in specific guidelines. In this way, it will be possible to reduce the dependence of the livestock sector on antimicrobials with regard to animal welfare and human health.The poultry sector is moving towards antibiotic-free production, both to challenge the increasing spread of the antibiotic resistance phenomenon and to meet market demands. This could negatively impact the health and welfare of the animals. In this study, the welfare of 14 batches of 41–47-day-old broilers raised by the same integrated company with and without antibiotics was assessed using the Welfare Quality® protocol. The total welfare score did not significantly differ between the two systems: the good-feeding principle was, on average, higher in the conventional batches, with statistical significance (t = −2.45; p = 0.024), while the other welfare principles (good housing, good health and appropriate behaviour) were slightly better in the antibiotic-free batches. Despite stocking densities averagely higher in the antibiotic-free batches, the absence of antibiotics did not seem to impact the good-health principle; in particular, hock burns, foot pad dermatitis and lameness were significantly less severe in the antibiotic-free batches (p < 0.0001, p = 0.018, p < 0.0001, respectively), which showed also a lower death rate (2.34% vs. 2.50%). Better management of antibiotic-free batches was reported, particularly concerning litter conditions. Further studies would be required to identify and standardise a set of managerial methodologies in order to improve the health of broilers raised without antibiotics.

Highlights

In the European Union, over 7.2 billion broiler chickens are slaughtered every year for the production of around 13 million tonnes of meat [1]
Animal infections sustained by multidrug-resistant zoonotic pathogens, such as Salmonella and Campylobacter, which are highly frequent in broiler chicken farms, represent a potential risk for human health
14 batches of broilers were subjected to animal welfare assessment with the Welfare Quality® protocol, at 6 different farms, of which 7 batches were raised conventionally and 7 without the use of antibiotics

Summary

Introduction

In the European Union, over 7.2 billion broiler chickens are slaughtered every year for the production of around 13 million tonnes of meat [1]. Animals are genetically selected to have a rapid growth rate during their short life (5–7 weeks) in large poultry houses with a high density of animals These conditions can create more challenges in avoiding increased moisture in the litter, higher temperatures and increased levels of ammonia, often resulting in serious health and welfare problems in the animals, with frequent pathologies such as gait problems, lameness and cardiovascular and respiratory diseases [3]. Even the transmission from animals and foodstuffs of non-pathogenic microbes to humans can result in the spread of the genes of antibiotic resistance, which can be transferred from the veterinary sector to human healthcare. This can happen, for example, through the well-known mechanism of resistance plasmid transmission, which can happen fast between cells of similar and different species of bacteria [8]

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