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Broiler welfare trade-off: A semi-quantitative welfare assessment for optimised welfare improvement based on an expert survey

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  • Marc B M Bracke
  • Paul Koene
  • Inma Estevez
  • Andy Butterworth
  • Ingrid C de Jong

Abstract

In order to support decision making on how to most effectively improve broiler welfare an innovative expert survey was conducted based on principles derived from semantic modelling. Twenty-seven experts, mainly broiler welfare scientists (n = 20; and 7 veterinarians), responded (response rate 38%) by giving welfare scores (GWS, scale 0–10) to 14 benchmarking housing systems (HSs), and explaining these overall scores by selecting, weighing and scoring main welfare parameters, including both input and output measures. Data exploration followed by REML (Linear Mixed Model) and ALM (Automatic Linear Modelling) analyses revealed 6 clusters of HSs, sorted from high to low welfare, i.e. mean GWS (with superscripts indicating significant differences): 1. (semi-natural backyard) Flock (8.8a); 2. Nature (7.7ab), Label Rouge II (7.4ab), Free range EU (7.2ab), Better Life (7.2ab); 3. Organic EU (7.0bc), Freedom Food (6.2bc); 4. Organic US (5.8bcd), Concepts NL (5.6abcdef), GAP 2 (4.9bcd); 5. Conventional EU (3.7de), Conventional US (2.9ef), Modern cage (2.9abcdef); 6. Battery cage (1.3f). Mean weighting factors (WF, scale 0–10) of frequently (n> = 15) scored parameters were: Lameness (8.8), Health status (8.6), Litter (8.3), Density (8.2), Air quality (8.1), Breed (8.0), Enrichment (7.0) and Outdoor (6.6). These did not differ significantly, and did not have much added value in explaining GWS. Effects of Role (Scientist/Vet), Gender (M/F) and Region (EU/non-EU) did not significantly affect GWS or WF, except that women provided higher WF than men (7.2 vs 6.4, p

Suggested Citation

  • Marc B M Bracke & Paul Koene & Inma Estevez & Andy Butterworth & Ingrid C de Jong, 2019. "Broiler welfare trade-off: A semi-quantitative welfare assessment for optimised welfare improvement based on an expert survey," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(10), pages 1-24, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0222955
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0222955
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Gocsik, Éva & Brooshooft, Suzanne D. & de Jong, Ingrid C. & Saatkamp, Helmut W., 2016. "Cost-efficiency of animal welfare in broiler production systems: A pilot study using the Welfare Quality® assessment protocol," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 55-69.
    2. Marc B M Bracke & Paul Koene, 2019. "Expert opinion on metal chains and other indestructible objects as proper enrichment for intensively-farmed pigs," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(2), pages 1-19, February.
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    1. Vissers, Luuk S.M. & Oude Lansink, Alfons G.J.M. & Saatkamp, Helmut W., 2021. "Exploring the performance of system changes in Dutch broiler production to balance animal welfare, ammonia emissions and particulate matter emissions with farm profitability," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    2. Vissers, Luuk S.M. & Saatkamp, Helmut W. & Oude Lansink, Alfons G.J.M., 2021. "Analysis of synergies and trade-offs between animal welfare, ammonia emission, particulate matter emission and antibiotic use in Dutch broiler production systems," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).

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