Browsing by Subject "Enviromental enrichment"

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    Einfluss von Beschäftigungs- und Strukturelementen auf das Verhalten und das Beinskelett konventionell gehaltener Mastputen
    (2010) Letzguß, Helga; Bessei, Werner
    Commercial turkey production in Germany is characterized by the use of heavy strains and intensive management systems with a poor level of environment stimulation. This results in behavioral and health problems, which are not only relevant with respect to animal welfare but do result in substantial financial losses for the farmers. It is assumed that environmental enrichment could be a promising means for improving the locomotor system of turkeys and for reducing cannibalism and feather pecking. The present field study deals with the effects of environmental enrichment under commercial rearing conditions. The major focus was on deducing the impact on (i) cannibalism and featherpecking, (ii) locomotor activity, and (iii) leg conditions. In addition the acceptance and the utilization of the enrichment facilities should be determined. Based on previous work, different enrichment structures were selected. Particular attention was given to choose structures that could easily be integrated into existing stables at low costs. Moreover, the objects should not substantially increase the workload of the farmers. Raised platforms, round bales of straw, baskets filled with hay, and packs of palettes were used as enrichment objects. The latter were substituted with square bales of straw in the second experiment. The enrichment structures occupied 5.3 % of the available area of the houses. The two successive experiments, one in the warm (Durchgang 1) and one in the cold (Durchgang 2) season, were carried out using three commercial turkey houses. Heavy strains of turkeys were kept in houses with more than 4500 animals. Two houses (A1 and A2) were enriched and one house was kept as non-enriched control. Starting from the 6th week of age the animals were observed in 4 week intervals by three observers. In addition, videos were recorded during the same time and evaluated using the commercial software INTERACT (Mangold International GmbH, Arnstorf). The following areas have been observed separately: raised platforms, square bales of straw, round bales of straw, unenriched area, wired basket filled with hay, feeder area, and drinker area. The following behaviours were determined: resting, sitting, locomotion, comfort behaviour, object pecking, environment pecking, feather pecking, aggression, dust bathing, scratching, threat, cannibalism, water intake, and food intake. The duration and the number of animals performing locomotion, sitting, and standing in the individual areas were determined. At 14th weeks of age approximately 150 animals were selected at random and weighted. The conditions of the breast skin, feathering, and foot pads were scored. At slaughter, the scorings of each third breast skin and each fifth food pad were repeated. Furthermore, after slaughter, 50 tibiotaris were randomly chosen for which length, angular distal deformity, torsional deformity were identified. Based on computer tomography the following bone parameters were determined in the middle of the total area, total density, corticalis area, corticalis density and Strain Strength Index (SSI). The enrichment structures were well accepted and used by the turkeys. The structures were mainly used for resting. From the observed extended resting periods it can be concluded that on the enrichment structures the animals could better satisfy their need for resting than in the non-enriched areas. Short resting periods in the non-enriched area are mainly due to frequent disturbances caused by fellow turkeys. From the fractions of locomotion in the unenriched areas it could be shown that the enrichment structures yielded increased locomotor activity. There was no effect of the enrichment structures on animal health. A decreased torsion of the tibiotarsi from the enriched houses were determined. In order to access the raised plarforms, palettes, and square bales of straw, the turkeys in the enriched houses had to wing flap, climb, and jump. This resulted in strengthening of both the leg muscles and the bones. The turkeys used the round bales until the end of the fattening period, where as pecking at the basket filled with hay decreased gradually. The occurrences of threat, aggression, cannibalism, and featherpecking, were very low an all houses. Hence, no effect was found for the enrichment structures on these behaviors. This thesis provided proof that low-cost enrichment of the environment can be advantageous with respect to the bone health of turkeys. In addition, it was demonstrated that it is possible to increase the locomotor activity of heavy strains. Furthermore, the results indicate that even small height differences between object surface and litter level suffice to enable the creation of resting areas. It should be noted that the enrichment structures did not loose attractiveness for the turkeys throughout the complete fattening period.