title: High dietary biotin levels affect the footpad and hock health of broiler chickens reared at different stocking densities and litter conditions.
abstract: Responses to stocking density (SD), dietary biotin concentration and litter condition were evaluated on 2016 Ross 308 male broilers in the fattening period (day 22-day 42). The birds were placed in 48 pens with either dry or wet litter to simulate the final stocking density of 30 kg (12 broilers/m2; normal stocking density, NSD) and 40 kg (16 broilers/m2; high stocking density, HSD) of body weight (BW)/m2floor space. A corn-soybean meal-based diet was supplemented with biotin to provide a normal (NB; 155 μg/kg) or high (HB, 1521 μg/kg) level of dietary biotin. There were six repetitions per treatment. The inappropriate moisture content of litter associated with HSD was avoided (p < 0.05) by good management (SD difference: dry litter, 6.65% vs. wet litter, 13.23%; 42 days), which made it advantageous (p < 0.01) for footpad (SD difference: dry litter, 0.118 vs. wet litter, 0.312; weekly average value) and hock health (SD difference: dry litter, 0.090 vs. wet litter, 0.303; weekly average value) of HSD birds, but not (p > 0.05) for growth and processing yield. In HSD, the biotin effect (gains, FCR) was significantly higher (p < 0.01) than in NSD. The similar response of HSD birds to supplemental biotin was observed (p < 0.05) for lesion scores of footpad and hock in particularly finishing chickens, and a significant interaction (p < 0.01) among stocking density, biotin supplementation and litter condition existed from 35 to 42 days of age. Taken together, increasing dietary biotin improves the performance and well-being of broiler chickens stocked at high densities in litter-independent and litter-dependent manners respectively.
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, China.|Jiurui Agricultural Group Co Ltd, Qingdao, China.
authors.forename: Z W
authors.initials: ZW
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Laizhou Inspection and Testing Center, Yantai, China.
authors.forename: Q H
authors.initials: QH
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: Jiurui Agricultural Group Co Ltd, Qingdao, China.
authors.forename: X X
authors.initials: XX
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Y M
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, China.
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, China.
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Dong
mesh_terms: D000821:Animal Feed; D000822:Animal Husbandry; D000824:Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D000818:Animals; D001710:Biotin / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D002645:Chickens; D004032:Diet / Q000662:veterinary; D005534:Foot Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000662:veterinary*; D006799:Housing, Animal; D011201:Poultry Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control*; D013643:Tarsus, Animal / Q000473:pathology*; D014815:Vitamins / Q000008:administration & dosage
chemical_list: D014815:Vitamins; D001710:Biotin
keywords: broiler chickens; dietary biotin; footpad dermatitis; hock burns; litter condition; stocking density