Abstract

The present study was designed to investigate the effects of additional human contact (AHC) on the human-animal relationship (HAR) in broilers and on the birds' productivity. A total of 1558 broiler one-day-old chicks were distributed into 12 equally sized pens at two different stocking densities (SDs), calculated on estimated weight at slaughter (4 pens with 32kg/m(2) and 8 pens with 16kg/m(2)). Six groups (2 high and 4 low SDs) received AHC, which consisted of 30-min sessions with visual human contact three days/week. The remaining six groups received as little human contact as possible and served as controls. A touch test was used to assess the human-broiler relationship and the production parameters measured were growth rate, mortality, feed consumption and feed conversion. The AHC treatment had a positive effect on the quality of the HAR but failed to affect any production parameter.

Keywords

Touch test; feed conversion; growth rate; mortality; human-broiler relationship; welfare

Published in

Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section A - Animal Science
2016, Volume: 66, number: 3, pages: 161-167

SLU Authors

• Silvera, Anna

  • Department of Applied Animal Science and Welfare, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Wallenbeck, Anna

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Blokhuis, Harry

  • Department of Applied Animal Science and Welfare, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Associated SLU-program

Centre of Excellence in Animal Welfare Science


UKÄ Subject classification

Animal and Dairy Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09064702.2017.1286379

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/82785