Footpad dermatitis (FPD), damage and inflammation of the plantar surface of the foot, is of concern for poultry because FPD affects the birds' welfare and production value. Footpad dermatitis is painful and causes costly chicken paw downgrades, carcass condemnations, and reduced live weights. However, a universal preventative has not been found. The hypothesis was that diets containing orange corn, when compared with diets containing yellow or white corn, would reduce the severity of footpad dermatitis in broiler chickens on wet litter. When compared with yellow and white corn, orange corn contains higher quantities of carotenoids, antioxidant pigments, believed to play a role in skin and feather health. This experiment was a randomized block, 3 × 2 factorial design: orange, yellow, and white corn diets with birds raised on wet or dry litter (control group). Female Ross 708 broilers (n = 960) were used to create 4 replicates of each diet x litter treatment combination. Footpads were scored at day 19, 27, 35, and 42, following the Global Animal Partnership standard's 0-2 scale of visual increasing severity: 0 indicates minimal damage and 1 and 2 indicate mild to severe lesions and ulceration, dark papillae, and/or bumble foot. At 42 d of age, birds on the wet litter had greater severity of FPD, scores 1 and 2, compared with the control group (88 vs. 13% respectively; P < 0.0001). At 42 d of age, prevalence of more severe footpad scores, 1 or 2, was lowest on the orange corn diet (33%), followed by white corn (56%) and yellow corn (63%). Birds fed the orange corn diet had higher BW throughout the study (P = 0.004) and had fat pads and livers with higher yellow pigment deposition (P < 0.005). Litter moisture content altered microbiome composition but corn type did not. In conclusion, the main determinant of FPD in this study was exposure to wet litter. When compared with yellow and white corn, orange corn was associated with improved bird growth and reduced severity of footpad dermatitis, especially at later time points.
Bacterial chondronecrosis with osteomyelitis (BCO) is a leading cause of lameness in broilers. Infrared thermography (IRT) is a noninvasive technique for measuring infrared radiation from an object and can be used to evaluate clinical health. Two replicated studies compared the effect of light intensity on broilers grown on a wire flooring model that experimentally increased their susceptibility to and incidence of BCO lameness. Day-of-hatch male broiler chickens were placed into 6 pens on wood shavings litter, and at 1 wk one of 3 light intensity treatments (2, 5, or 10 lux) was allotted. At 4 wk half of the population from each pen was moved to a pen with wire flooring and the same light intensity. At 1, 4, 5, and 8 wk, an IRT image of the legs of 5 clinically healthy broilers from each pen was taken. The right and left proximal femora and tibiae of sound and lame broilers were scored for femoral head necrosis (FHN) and tibial head necrosis (THN) lesion severity. There were minimal effects of light intensity and flooring. In Study 1, but not Study 2, broilers on wire flooring weighed less on day 38 (P = 0.007) and days 57 to 58 (P = 0.003) compared to those on litter. The proportion of broilers that became lame on wire flooring was 52% in Study 1 and 14% in Study 2. The proportion of sound broilers from litter and wire flooring pens with subclinical signs of BCO in their right or left proximal growth plates was over 45% for FHN and 92% for THN, and lame broilers had more severe (P < 0.0001) FHN and THN compared to sound broilers. IRT surface temperatures of the hock joint, shank, and foot were consistently lower (P < 0.0001) in broilers that became lame when compared to sound. Therefore, IRT surface temperatures of broiler leg regions may be useful for detecting lesions attributed to BCO.
It is important that when an owner decides to relinquish their canine that the information provided on the forms are accurate and not conflicting in detail. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to (1) identify the top three issues for why a canine is relinquished, (2) report on the percentage of canines relinquished due to the recession and, (3) identify the percentage of canines relinquished for behavioral related issues at the Animal Rescue League of Iowa. The top three issues for owner relinquishment for canines at the ARL were 1) too many animals (13.4 %), 2) moving (12.1 %) and 3) found-cannot keep (9.0 %) respectively. Owner relinquishment due to “cannot afford” for 2008 on average was 8.3 %. However, the second half of the year (July to December) had a much higher average percentage of relinquishments per month (10.7 %) than the first half of the year (January to June; 6%). Overall, owner relinquishment due to “cannot afford” for 2008 was 8.3 %. Of the 1,947 canine relinquishment cases that were included in this retrospective study, 96 % of those dogs were relqinuisehd with “non-behavior related relinquishmetns” and 4 % were “behavior related relinquishments.” Therefore in conclusion, the top three issues given by the owners for why a canine was relinquished at the ARL of Iowa was not behaviorally related. The 2008 recession did seem to affect the number of canine relinquishments with more dogs entering the ARL of Iowa in the second half of 2008 with “cannot afford” noted by their owners as the main reason.
There are potential advantages for using noninvasive methods instead of conventional approaches for measuring corticosterone (CORT) as a metric of stress. Two studies compared blood heterophil: lymphocyte (H:L) ratios, serum CORT, cecal content CORT (Study 1), colon content CORT (Study 2), and feather CORT concentrations for broiler chicks receiving drinking water with or without added CORT. On day 28, male broilers (N = 140) were provided tap water (Control group) or water containing 20 mg/L of CORT (CORT group) for up to 72 h. Body weight (BW), blood, feather, cecal, and colon content samples were collected from 10 birds from each treatment group at 0, 6, 12, 24, 30, 48, and 72 h. Data were analyzed with a JMP Pro ANOVA. Mean comparisons were analyzed on significant treatment effects using post hoc t-tests to compare control and CORT measures within each sampling time point. Pearson's pairwise correlations for all data were performed. A treatment by time interaction affected all measures in both studies. In both studies, CORT treatment reduced body weight and increased H:L ratios at later time points. In study 1 cecal content CORT concentrations were elevated with CORT treatment after 24 h, whereas in study 2 colon content CORT concentrations were elevated after 6 h. CORT treatment increased body and primary feather CORT and primary feather CORT increased with time in control groups in both studies. Serum CORT exhibited the lowest variability compared with all other sample sources used for determining CORT. Estimates of CORT by different methods were positively correlated. These results indicate that serum CORT concentrations most reliably reflect the CORT status of broilers, and that feather CORT concentrations demonstrated potential for estimating stress in broilers.
Despite the negative impacts of Salmonella intestinal colonization on human health, Salmonella is a natural colonizer of the gastrointestinal tract and is not overtly pathogenic to the avian host. It is of interest to understand the impacts and colonization rates of Salmonella across selected genetic lines such as slow-growing (SG) and conventional (CONV) broilers. The objective of this study was to characterize the relationship between Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium challenge and selected broiler genetic lines on the ileal and cecal microbiome. Male chicks of two broiler breeds ( n = 156/breed) were cohoused in an open floor pen until day 7. On day 13, the chicks were then separated into 12 isolators per breed (4 rooms, 6 isolators/room, 11 chicks/isolator). On day 14, chicks in the 12 treatment isolators (6 isolators/breed, 108 total) were challenged with Salmonella Typhimurium (ST) (1 × 108 CFU/ml) via oral gavage while the remaining chicks ( n = 108) were given an oral gavage of sterile tryptic soy broth control (C). Ileal and cecal contents were collected on day 7 from 24 chicks of each breed, and on days 13, 17, 21, and 24 from two chicks per isolator. Samples underwent DNA extraction and PCR amplification to obtain 16S rRNA amplicons that were sequenced with Illumina MiSeq. Salmonella Typhimurium colonization in the cecum was not different in the two broiler breeds. The main effect of breed had the greatest impact on the ileum microbiota of broilers 7 days of age where SG broilers had significantly lower diversity and richness compared to CONV broilers ( p < 0.05). Salmonella Typhimurium challenge consistently caused a change in beta diversity. Regardless of day or intestinal location, challenged broilers had many amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) with decreased abundance of likely beneficial bacteria such as Mollicutes RF39, Shuttleworthia , Flavonifractor , and Oscillibacter compared to broilers that were unchallenged with Salmonella Typhimurium ( p < 0.05). Additionally, there was a difference in the timing of when the microbiota alpha and beta diversity of each breed responded to Salmonella Typhimurium challenge. Thus, both broiler breed and Salmonella Typhimurium can impact the intestinal microbiota.
In natural environments, face identification must operate robustly over changes in illumination. We examined identification under uncontrolled illumination conditions using a constant set of identities that varied in photometric difficulty across multiple images. Photometric difficulty was estimated using a face recognition algorithm created by fusing three top-performing algorithms from a recent international competition. The algorithm computed similarity scores for same-identity and different-identity pairs from multiple images taken under a variety of uncontrolled illumination conditions (both indoors and outdoors). For each identity pair, algorithm-generated similarity scores were ranked and divided into three machine performance groups: good, moderate, and poor. Algorithm performance across these constant identity pairings varied widely. In three experiments, humans matched identity in image pairs from the good, moderate, and poor groups. In Experiment 1, participants matched 240 pairs of faces (120 same-identity) from all three conditions, rating the likelihood that the images were of the same person (1: sure same – 5: sure different). Humans performed best for the good pairs, and equivalently for the moderate and poor performance pairs. Algorithm accuracy surpassed humans, although the algorithm advantage decreased as the challenge level increased (from good to poor). Experiments 2 and 3 replicated these results using a larger number of face pairs from only the moderate and poor performance conditions. In a fourth experiment, humans matched identity on image pairs that yielded systematically incorrect performance for the algorithm (i.e., an infinitely negative ROC curve). Specifically, the same-identity pairs had algorithm-generated similarity scores that always were lower than the similarity scores for different-identity pairs, (i.e., same- and different-identity distributions reversed). Human performance was well above chance (d′ = 1.5). In summary, as the level of photometric challenge increased, the performance advantage for algorithms over humans diminished, ultimately reversing to a human advantage for the most difficult cases.
Materials and methods: An observer entered the nursery pen and crouched down with an outstretched arm for 15 seconds. A digital image was recorded, and the observer counted all pigs touching, oriented, and not oriented to the human. Each digital image was used to determine the snout and tail-base proximity to the index finger of the observer for pigs classified as Touch, Oriented, and Not Oriented when pens were divided into thirds and quarters. Postures and behaviors of pigs classified as Not Oriented were further delineated. Human observation and digital image were compared.
Antimicrobial resistance is a threat to animal and human health. As a commensal and zoonotic bacterium, Escherichia coli has the potential to be a pathogenic source of antimicrobial resistance. The purpose of this study aimed to investigate the antimicrobial resistance profile of E. coli isolated from litter collected from pens in a broiler chicken experiment. E. coli was isolated from litter samples (n = 68 isolates) of 16 pens housing broilers to d 53 of age. Resistance to 10 antimicrobials was observed by disc diffusion. The presence of 23 antimicrobial and heavy metal resistance genes, O serogroups, and avian pathogenic E. coli (APEC-like) minimal predictor genes were identified through PCR. E. coli isolates presented the greatest resistance to cephalothin (54.4%), tetracycline (27.9%), streptomycin (29.4%), ampicillin (20.6%), colistin (13.2%), sulphonamides (8.8%), and imipenem (1.5%). Multidrug resistance to at least 3 antimicrobials was observed in 22.1% of isolates. The identified O-types of the E. coli isolates were O15, O75, O78, and O91. There was a greater likelihood that the genes groEL, aph(3)IA, silP, sull, aadA, qacEdelta1, iroN, ompTp, and hlyF were present in isolates that exhibited ampicillin resistance (P ≤ 0.05). There was a greater likelihood that the groEL gene was present in isolates resistant to ampicillin, colistin, tetracycline, sulphonamides, or cephalothin (P ≤ 0.05). Further characterizing E. coli antimicrobial resistance is essential and aids in developing effective solutions, thereby furthering the One Health objective.
Abstract Stocker cattle purchased at auction can be susceptible to disease due to the stressors associated with the auction process. These cattle are labeled “high-risk” due to their decreased immune system during transportation, handling, and vaccination processes. The objective of this study was to determine the efficacy of a maternal bovine appeasing substance, FerAppease, on growth performance and fearfulness of stocker cattle. Male beef calves (n = 80) were purchased at auction and transported to the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Savoy Research Complex Beef Stocker Unit. Steers and bulls were of varying age, breed, and temperament. Upon arrival to the facility (d 0), bulls (n = 48) were castrated by banding and cattle were assigned to 8 pens (n = 10 calves/pen; 4 bulls and 6 steers/pen). On d 0, cattle in 4 pens were treated with FerAppease (FA) on the nuchal skin (n = 40) and cattle in the other 4 pens were not treated and served as controls (CON, n = 40). All cattle received commercial clostridial and respiratory vaccines and were treated with an anthelmintic. Cattle were offered bermudagrass hay for ad libitum intake and were fed a grain supplement (1.8 kg/d) to meet or exceed nutrient requirements. To measure growth performance, body weight (BW) was recorded on d 0, 3, 14, 28, 41, 42 of the study and used to calculate average daily gain (ADG). Body weights on d 41 and 42 were averaged to calculate final BW. To measure fearfulness, exit chute velocity (ECV) was measured with a rodeo timer and recorded on d 3, 14, 28, 41, and 42. To measure inflammation, blood was collected from 5 calves/pen (n = 3 bulls and 2 steers/pen) on d 0, 3, 28 and 42 and haptoglobin (Hp) was measured in blood serum. A two-way ANOVA with the fixed effects of sex (arrived as steer or bull) and treatment (FA, CON) and random effect of pen was used for analysis. Serum Hp was log transformed to improve normality. There was not a treatment effect on any of the measures collected. Steers had a greater BW throughout the study (P ≤ 0.05), weighing more than bulls at the end of the study (261 kg vs 241 kg, respectively). Steers also had a greater (P < 0.0001) ADG than bulls (1.14 vs. 0.84 kg/d, respectively). On d 3 and 14, steers exited the chute more rapidly (P < 0.05) than bulls. There was an interactive effect on serum d 28 Hp concentrations (P = 0.04), where CON bulls had greater Hp concentrations (111,261 ng/mL) than CON steers (13,055 ng/mL), with FA steers and bulls intermediate. The results from this study indicate that there was no consistent effect of the treatment on the measures collected.
