Animal welfare is a major challenge for turkey farming. Issues like antibiotic overuse, cannibalism, high stock density, and inflamed foot pads negatively impact welfare. However, research shows initiatives are helping to reduce these issues. Animal welfare, especially for turkeys, can be improved through feeding practices, like adding phytogenic ingredients. A new study in Germany confirms that supplementing turkey feed with a phytogenic product called Anta® Phyt improves welfare indicators like foot pad health and stress levels. The treated turkeys had fewer lesions, lower mortality, and less rejected weight at the slaughterhouse, increasing profitability.

1. A
nimal welfare in turkeys is a huge
challenge.
When the talk is of animal welfare
deficiencies, attention focuses above
all on turkeys. High antibiotic doses,
cannibalism, high stock densities and
inflamed foot pads are influences
stated in connection with low animal
welfare levels.
Even if it is not yet possible to solve all problems simultaneously
today, initiatives and research studies are showing initial signs of
being able to reduce some of these negative influences successfully
for the future.
It is possible to influence the wellbeing of the poultry favourably,
in particular by feeding, especially by adding phytogenic ingredients
to the feed.
Since 2013 the binding establishment of a health monitoring
programme plays a central role in Germany.
The objective of the programme is to enable the participating
farmers to assess the health and animal welfare of their turkeys
continuously.
The health monitoring programme uses indicators that can be
surveyed at the slaughterhouse in the context of conducting the
official meat inspection. If the health monitoring programme shows
indications of deviations from the target ranges, an individual health
plan is drawn up for the farm jointly by the veterinarian looking after
the flock and the turkey farmer. Table 2 shows a few indicators and
what possible conclusions can be drawn from them.
Healthy foot pads: a must for animal welfare
In turkey fattening, the health status of the sensitive foot pads
represents a key criterion for animal welfare, for the foot pads carry
the weight of the birds. Inflammation restricts their mobility and has
a critical effect on overall condition and feeding behaviour.
This can lead to negative effects on growth and mortality and thus
reduce the profitability of turkey farming substantially. Consequently,
commercially successful poultry keeping goes hand in hand with
applied animal welfare.
As foot pad diseases are a multi-factorial problem, they indicate
deficiencies in both keeping conditions and farm management
(diarrhoea diseases, population density, climate management,
weather protection, litter material, littering frequency). Furthermore,
the frequency of foot pad damage correlates with the occurrence of
painful changes in the skin and subcutaneous tissue referred to as
‘breast blisters’.
The direct connection between litter moisture content and foot pad
diseases is undisputed. The wetter and stickier the litter/excrement
mixture, the higher the occurrence of foot pad skin alterations or
injuries. Moisture and excrement attack the skin of the sole and lead
to lesions, which are the entry gates for dirt and germs.
Influencing litter moisture via feeding
The litter moisture content can be influenced indirectly via the
feed. There are various causes for wet excrement and consequently
wet litter. On the one hand, feed constituents with a laxative effect
can increase water release via excrement. On the other hand,
liquid excrement can also be the consequence of infections in the
gastrointestinal tract.
Here both Coccidia and bacterial pathogens (Clostridium
perfringens and E. coli) as well as general disturbances of the
intestinal flora are possible causes of wet excrement. Accordingly,
good intestinal health is conducive to foot pad health.
It is thus all the more important to ensure healthy digestion and
hence keep diarrhoea occurrences as low as possible. It is known that
various plant extracts, essential oils and secondary plant substances
have a positive effect on diarrhoea diseases and faeces consistency.
In a research trial, it was possible to observe an effect of the
phytogenic product (Anta®
Phyt, Dr Eckel GmbH, Niederzissen)
on Clostridium perfringens, a known cause of wet litter, in vitro.
In feeding trials with broilers, the addition of this same phytogenic
product had a positive influence on the litter moisture content.
This was reduced in the broiler house by on average 14 percent.
In a feeding study with quails, a 20 percent lower water content
in the excreta was measured after the addition of Anta®
Phyt in the
feed. After the successful feeding trials with broilers and quails, a
comprehensive practical trial was con-ducted in turkey finishing in
order to confirm the positive influence on foot pads.
New turkey fattening study confirms improved animal
welfare
Nearly 10,000 turkey cocks per group were fattened on straw in
separate, identical housing units for a period of 145 days. A detailed
slaughterhouse evaluation has shown for the first time what influence
the addition of Anta®
Phyt in the feed can have on various animal
welfare parameters.
The trial focused on footpad health, mortality and the rejected
live weight at the slaughterhouse, as well as the causes (see table
3). Already at the end of fattening, the Anta®
Phyt group displayed a
distinctly lower mortality rate compared with the control group fed
without any additive. The good health status in the Anta®
Phyt group
was confirmed in the slaughterhouse evaluation.
Footpads were automatically assessed via a camera system using a
Boosting animal welfare with phytogenic products
by Monika Korzekwa, Dr Eckel GmbH, Niederzissen, Germany
44 | January 2016 - Milling and Grain
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4. 3-step score (see comments, table 3). 64.5 percent of the animals in
the Anta®
Phyt-group showed no lesions, while only 33.2 percent of
the control (without additive) animals were free of lesions (score 1).
Birds with severer lesions often have other types of contact
dermatitis such as breast blisters or hock burns. In addition to
causing pain, the lesions can be a gateway for bacteria, which can
cause impaired product quality (increased downgrades and rejections
at the slaughterhouse) and secondary infections.
Therefore, flocks with a lower incidence of footpad lesions have
a higher growth rate, less downgrades and, therefore, an increased
profitability.
Altogether 34 percent less live weight had to be rejected by
comparison with the control group. The number of whole rejected
carcasses was virtually halved in the Anta®
Phyt group. While in the
control group almost 90 birds had to be rejected on the grounds of
purulent breast blisters, this cause was only noted in 26 birds in the
Anta®
Phyt group.
Less stress in the housing unit
Anta®
Phyt is a plant-based product, a combination of different
plant substances with a prebiotic. The selected plant components
have already been researched intensively in the human sector and
displayed various effects there.
One particularly interesting aspect is the stress-reducing and
calming effect. It is suspected that the calming effect is based on
various mechanisms. The plant substances boost the activity of the
neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA).
This leads to a mild inhibition of the central nervous system
and accordingly can lead to calming of humans and animals.
Stress reduction was perceived subjectively in the turkey fattening
operation, too. The birds appeared calmer during control inspections
in the housing unit. Alongside healthier foot pads, lower stress is an
important aspect of animal welfare in modern poultry fattening.
How worthwhile is improved animal welfare?
The use of Anta®
Phyt in poultry fattening feed had a positive effect
on various animal protection indicators – in particular on foot pad
health. By improving the survival rate, with less rejected live weight
in the slaughterhouse, this led to a distinct commercial profit by
comparison with a control group kept without the additive. This is a
clear indication that animal welfare and profitability of fattening go
hand in hand.
The results of this study were presented under the title ‘Positive
influence of a phytogenic product on animal welfare indicators in
turkeys’at the 53rd annual conference of the Bavarian Working
Group on Animal Nutrition (BAT) in Freising on October 1, 2015.
The scientific poster for this study won the first prize.
About the Author
Ms Monika Korzekwa has worked at Dr Eckel
GmbH in Niederzissen, Germany since 2011.
Today she is the company’s Technical Sales
Manager.
Ms Korzekwa has a profound scientific
knowledge in the field of feed additives for
all species with focus on phytogenic feed additives and mycotoxin
binders. She has global responsibility for phytogenic feed additives at
the company.
Ms Korzekwa studied animal production at the University of Bonn,
and a master thesis at the Institute of Animal Nutrition, under Director
Professor Dr Karl-Heinz Südekum, on ‘Effect of phytogenic feed
additives on performance and health parameters of poultry.’
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