Orange corn diets associated with lower severity of footpad dermatitis in broilers

Abstract 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. FPD 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 to diets containing yellow or white corn, would reduce the severity of footpad dermatitis in broiler chickens on wet litter. When compared to 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, 3x2 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 four replicates of each diet x litter treatment combination. Footpads were scored at days 19, 27, 35, and 42, following the GAP standard’s 0-2 scale of visual increasing severity: 0 indicates minimal damage, 1 and 2 indicate mild to severe lesions and ulceration, dark papillae, and/or bumble foot. At 42 days of age, birds on the wet litter had greater severity of FPD, scores 1 and 2, compared to the control group (88% vs 13% respectively; P