Review of the physiological and pathological welfare indicators applied in turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo)

Abstract

Concern on animal welfare has become an important issue in Europe for a decade now. In commercial poultry husbandry, there are many trials to standardize the production in order to reduce the economic loss caused by poor welfare at marketing age. As it known, factors such as density, group size, space availability, maturation, lighting, feeding, and transportation can have effects on welfare of turkeys. However, to ensure a better quality of live for the birds as well as the industry as good performance, reducing the mortality and condemnations it is important to have another point of view as different kind of indicators. This paper reviews the available scientific literature related to the turkeys' welfare according to the main relevant physiopathology indicators by taking into a count whether they are feasible or not for being used. We addressed foot pad dermatitis and breast skin lesions as being the most relevant indicators so far. They may be relevant to improve the welfare assessment indicators of turkeys. However, measurements of corticosterone, enzyme activities, cytokines, and hematological profile seemed to be flourishing indicators to be applied more often. In this way associating the indicators that were previously studied to these new ones, it is assumed that animal, producer, industry and consumer may have a suitable bond between them (poultry chain) according to their different interests.

Footpad Monitoring: Reliability of an Automated System to Assess Footpad Dermatitis in Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) During Slaughter

“…Monitoring FPD is an accepted tool not only in Germany but all over Europe and the United States [see ( 19 ) for the United Kingdom and the United States, ( 20 , 21 ) for Europe]. Watanabe et al ( 22 ) identified FPD as one of the most relevant animal-based indicators to measure animal welfare so far. This indicator not only provides information on animal health and wellbeing, but is also associated with the husbandry system, with litter quality being the major determinant for this pathology ( 23 – 26 ).…”

A Cross-Sectional Study on the Prevalence of Footpad Dermatitis in Canadian Turkeys

“…Given the evidence that FPD is painful (Martland, 1984;Hocking and Wu, 2013;Sinclair et al, 2015;Weber Wyneken et al, 2015), it is used as an animal welfare indicator in research, on farms, and in slaughterhouses (Watanabe et al, 2013). To illustrate the importance of FPD, United Kingdom supermarkets have identified FPD as a key welfare indicator in turkeys (Clark et al, 2002), and most animal welfare audits in Europe and the United States consider FPD an indicator of impaired welfare (Berg, 2004;Berg and Algers, 2004).…”