Article

한국형 한협 육계의 행동 특성과 성장성에 미치는 Litter Type과 Gender의 영향

양가영1,*https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3232-6075, 하재정2,*https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6785-6346, 노희종3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1458-1937, 조창연4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6373-8729, 오승민2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8848-8028, 오동엽2,https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4412-7719
Ka Young Yang1,*https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3232-6075, Jae Jung Ha2,*https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6785-6346, Hee-Jong Roh3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1458-1937, Chang-Yeon Cho4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6373-8729, Seung Min Oh2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8848-8028, Dong-Yep Oh2,https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4412-7719
Author Information & Copyright
1농촌진흥청 국립축산과학원 박사후 연구원
2경상북도축산기술연구소 농업연구사
3농촌진흥청 국립축산과학원 가축유전자원센터 농업연구사,
4농촌진흥청 국립축산과학원 가축유전자원센터 농업연구관
1Post Doctor, National Institute of Animal Science, Rural Development Administration, Wanju 55365, Republic of Korea
2Researcher, Gyeongbuk Livestock Research Institute, Yeongju 36052, Republic of Korea
3Researcher, Animal Genetic Resources Center, National Institute of Animal Science, Rural Development Administration, Namwon 55717, Republic of Korea
4Senior Researcher, Animal Genetic Resources Center, National Institute of Animal Science, Rural Development Administration, Namwon 55717, Republic of Korea

* These authors have contributed equally to this work.

To whom correspondence should be addressed : ody1234@korea.kr

© Copyright 2019, Korean Society of Poultry Science. This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Received: Jun 21, 2019 ; Revised: Sep 17, 2019 ; Accepted: Sep 17, 2019

Published Online: Sep 30, 2019

ABSTRACT

The Korean Hanhyup broiler has commercialized native meat-type chicken. This study aimed to determine the effects of two types of litter material-sawdust and rice husk, and gender on the Korean Hanhyup broiler. Chicks (n=416) were randomly assigned in a 2 × 2 factorial design by type of litter material and gender. The behavior of chicken's was monitored continuously for 12 hours during the 1st through 8th week of age. The time spent on standing, sitting, and walking and the frequency of drinking, feeding, preening, dust bathing, flapping, and aggressive pecking, and pecking of chicken's behavior were recorded. The behavior of chickens during the starter (1 to 4 weeks) and finisher period (5 to 8 weeks) was compared to observe the changes upon maturity.

Our results indicate that litter material type and gender have no effect on the behavior of chickens. However, aggressive pecking and pecking caused increment in the rice husk as compared to sawdust (P<0.05). Sawdust as litter material for bedding was found to be better than rice husk with respect to Korean Hanhyup broiler behavior.

Keywords: broiler; Korean Hanhyup; litter materials; behavior; welfare

INTRODUCTION

Behavior is the best form of welfare evaluation for poultry (Duncan, 1988). Farm animals should be analyzed using behavioral approach based on cognitive psychology (Desire et al., 2002). Chicken behavior includes dust bathing and feeding on litters. The type of litter is used for determining whether chicks have been contaminated by feces and if the temperature and humidity are kept. Litters must be laid in sufficient depth with a suitable type and size. Types of litter such as feather and litter of broiler are mixed with droppings, which affects quality of health, quality of meat, and welfare (Mayne et al., 2007).

Contaminated type of litter can affect the growth rate and the quality of carcass (Bilgilli et al., 2009) due to health problems including bacteria in broiler affecting body weight and immune system (Toghyani et al., 2010). In addition, when chickens are come into contact with poor litter materials while standing or sitting, this can induce skin tumor on the chest area, soles of feet, and hock joints (Arogo et al., 2006).

Physiological studies on the type of litter (Atapattu et al., 2008; Torok et al., 2009) and behavioral studies (Toghyani et al., 2010) have been made, but we have few studies on Korean Hanhyup broiler. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the effects of two types of litter material - sawdust and rice husks and gender on the behavior characteristics and growth performance of the Korean Hanhyup broiler.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

1. Animals, Experimental Design, Feeding and Management

For this experiment, we raised 10-day-old chicks (n=416) for Korean Hanhyup broiler (HANHYUP No.3). The chicks were separated into 4 different pens. Twenty-five male and 28 female chicks were put on 2 pens of sawdust, and 2 pens of rice husks. Chicks were randomly assigned in a 2 × 2 factorial experiment and 4 treatment combination by type of litter and gender. All the walls of each pen were solid and 0.7 m high. Each pen had an overhead brooder and a circular free. The feeding trial started at d 10 and finished at d 70 of age for 60 days. The temperature and relative humidity were kept at 30℃ and 50%, respectively. According to the feeding standards (NIAS; National Institute of Animal Science, 2007) flocks were given a free access to the feed. For an 8-week period, chickens were kept under 16 hours of light per day (16L: 8D).

2. Behavioral Observations

We recorded behaviors for 12 consecutive hours from the 1st to the 8th weeks of age. To examine the Korean HANHYUP broiler’s behavior, we evaluated the time spent for standing, sitting, and walking and the frequency of drinking, feeding, preening, dust bathing, flapping, aggressive pecking, and pecking (Table 1). Overhead camera generated the top view of poultry. The top-view camera was placed at the height of 1.7 m, above the center of each pen. The CCTV camera captured the behavior images (IR LED Camera; APD-7070V, Sony, Fig. 1).

Table 1. Behavioral classification of Korean Hanhyup broiler
Item Definition
Measure of one zero (time budget)
 Standing To assume or maintain an upright position on extended legs. The behavior patterns involved in standing up show a high degree of uniformity within species, but may be modified by environmental circumstances.
 Sitting Body position in which the posterior of the body trunk is in contact with the ground and supports most of the body weight.
 Walking Relatively low speed locomotion of an organism on the ground in which propulsive force derives from the action of legs.
Measure of instantaneous sampling (count)
 Drinking Voluntary oral ingestion of liquids.
 Feeding Delivery of feed to animals in feedbox.
 Preening An act of integumentary care in birds similar in function to grooming in mammals. Preening is manifested as manipulation of feathers and distribution of secretions from the uropygial gland using the beak, and also as scratching of the body surface with claws or beak.
 Dust bathing A behavior pattern that is a component of integumentary care characterized by lying on the side and making a small depression in the floor surface while head rubbing, bill raking, wing shaking, and scratching on the floor.
 Pecking Pecking is performed with a short, quick forward motion of the head and is displayed during investigation following visual inspection, during feeding, during fighting, and during courtship.
 Flapping Rapid rotatory oscillation of the wings flap and strike against the body.
 Aggressive pecking A term occasionally used to refer to unreciprocated pecks directed towards group peers. Aggressive pecking is assumed to be a sign of rigid social dominance or despotism.
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kjps-46-3-155-g1
Fig. 1. Analysis progress.
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Two methods of time sampling were involved with measuring what is happening at particular moments (instantaneous sampling) or recording whether or not a given event has occurred within a given period (one zero) (Martin et al., 2007). chicken's behavior during the starter (1 to 4 weeks) and the finisher (5 to 8 weeks) periods was compared to see the changes in each behavior as the chickens matured.

3. Statistical Analysis

Our analysis was performed with SAS software (SAS, 2003) for independent sample T-test. Significant difference (P<0.05) was used to analyze the difference between types of litter (sawdust and rice husks) and gender (male and female). The probability value of 0.05 was considered as significant.

RESULT AND DISCCUSION

1. Effects of Type of Litter and Gender on Behavior

Table 2 and 3 are the summaries on the effects of types of litter and gender on behavior. The percentage of standing time was shown similarly in both early and late periods. In type of litter, males were analyzed to be higher in rice husks than the other, whereas females higher in sawdust than the other. In contrast to the standing behavior, sitting time appeared higher in sawdust than in males, whereas appeared higher in rice husks than in females. Sitting time means rest and inactivity, but the types of litter coming into contact with skin can cause disease in the parts of body being in contact with litter and this was worsened as a result of prolonged sitting time and indicates a low level of welfare (Shields et al., 2004).

Table 2. Effect of litter types and gender on behavioral using method of one zero (time budget) and instantaneous sampling (count) in the former period (1~4 week)
Gender Male Female SEM P-value
Litter type Sawdust Rice husks Sawdust Rice husks Gender Litter Gender × Litter
Time (minutes)
 Standing 227.95 281.95 283.25 277.25 3.74 0.601 0.119 0.968
 Sitting 377.58 363.52 362.14 378.35 4.95 0.363 0.211 0.071
 Walking 64.47 74.54 74.61 64.41 1.75 0.917 0.413 0.218
Count (number)
 Drinking 23.12 22.36 27.98 18.51 0.56 0.942 0.842 0.591
 Feeding 56.36 53.88 57.31 52.81 2.03 0.157 0.478 0.393
 Preening 58.29 53.41 57.07 53.62 2.56 0.515 0.622 0.814
 Dust bathing 5.22 4.53 6.57 3.17 0.44 0.830 0.099 0.654
 Pecking 33.65 29.49 35.58 27.59 1.50 0.693 0.871 0.121
 Flapping 83.55 79.97 88.96 75.01 1.51 0.468 0.317 0.935
 Aggressive pecking 7.01 7.89 5.63 9.26 0.28 0.188 <0.05 0.168

SEM, Standard error of mean.

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Table 3. Effect of litter types and gender on behavioral using method of one zero (time budget) and instantaneous sampling (count) in the later period (5~8 week)
Gender Male Female SEM P-value
Litter type Sawdust Rice husks Sawdust Rice husks Gender Litter Gender × Litter
Time (minutes)
 Standing 279.05 287.12 301.95 284.44 4.48 0.119 0.221 0.592
 Sitting 350.1 345.32 327.30 367.67 4.12 0.323 0.966 0.842
 Walking 90.85 87.57 90.75 87.94 1.74 0.601 0.842 0.968
Count (number)
 Drinking 21.08 19.75 22.86 17.98 0.91 0.218 0.089 0.071
 Feeding 51.24 48.92 50.94 49.22 0.94 0.323 0.148 0.668
 Preening 74.18 73.15 78.04 72.31 2.17 0.211 0.842 0.473
 Dust bathing 3.52 2.35 3.99 1.88 0.29 0.490 0.285 0.992
 Pecking 29.64 26.74 28.67 24.79 1.02 0.337 0.653 0.178
 Flapping 86.60 84.25 91.38 79.09 2.64 0.198 0.131 0.146
 Aggressive pecking 6.76 7.66 7.61 6.81 0.21 0.109 0.505 0.343

SEM, Standard error of mean.

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In the early and late part of behavior (drinking, feeding, preening, dust bathing, and pecking flapping), there was no gender difference, but sawdust appeared higher than the rice husks in the effects of type of litter (Table 2 and 3). This was consistent with the findings reported by Song (1996) that the feeding behavior of males are 4 to 5 times faster than that of the females who spent longer time in feeding in one day. Feed efficiency and feed ratio were higher in males than in females (Marks, 1985). Most of the poultry rested after preening behavior. Preening behavior, which is a part of grooming behavior can be motivated by internal and external stimuli to maintain the body surface (Vezzoli et al., 2015). Therefore, in this experiment, the preening and dust bathing behaviors, which are a kind of resting behaviors are higher in sawdust than in rice husks.

Aggressive pecking and pecking occurred incrementally in the ‘rice husks’ pens compared to the ‘sawdust’ pens (P<0.05, Table 2). Much time was spent in walking in the ‘rice husks’ pens, but for some broilers, more sitting hour meant higher aggressive pecking behavior, which appeared more frequent in rice husks. Broilers increasingly performed many of their behaviors on the sand, but if only one type of litter was provided, they would perform those behaviors at a similar frequency on the sand or wood shavings (Song, 1996; Shields et al., 2004). Aggressive behavior means any purposive action of organism toward another with the actual or potential result of harming, limiting, or depriving it (Hurnik et al., 1995). So the aggressive behavior appeared higher in males.

Therefore, the welfare showed an improvement in the ‘sawdust’ pens because active behavior was more compared to the ‘rice husks’ pens.

2. Effects of Litter Types and Gender on Growth Performance

Weight gain (WG) in stared during d10-25 was observed to be higher in rice husks than in sawdust (P<0.05, Table 4). WG during d26-40 and d56-70 appeared higher in sawdust than rice husks (P>0.05). WG in total tended to increase in sawdust higher than in rice husks (P<0.05). The effects of gender on weight gain (Table 4) appeared during d 10∼25 and the overall weight gain was higher in males than in females (P<0.05). According to Huang et al. (2009), at difference between rice husks and sawdust litter with the increased weight gain when using rice husks in the body weight gain differences. This was inconsistent with the results of our experiment. It is determined as a result of the difference in the characteristics between broilers and Korean Hanhyup broiler.

Table 4. Effect of litter type and gender on growth performance of Korean Hanhyup broiler
Gender Male Female SEM P-value
Litter type Sawdust Rice husks Sawdust Rice husks Gender Litter Gender × Litter
Weight gain (g/bird)
 d 10~25 372.71 389.07 343.91 354.31 21.43 0.0001 0.0139 0.5636
 d 26~40 336.76 329.87 330.21 324.98 17.60 0.6399 0.6204 0.9457
 d 41~55 1,048.43 1,046.67 834.87 788.96 38.54 0.0001 0.1671 0.1997
 d 56~70 749.97 684.75 567.57 576.43 87.63 0.0001 0.2179 0.1087
 Overall 2,507.88 2,450.38 2,076.56 2,044.71 103.87 0.0001 0.0498 0.5608
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CONCLUSIONS

The authors conclude that welfare behavior (aggressive behavior) in sawdust was higher than rice husks. Therefore, sawdust is preferable for Korean HANHYUP broiler. From the results of this study, we conclude that welfare in broiler production is determined by the environment and considerations of gender and litter management. It would be necessary to perform the further researches in order to address the other possible aspects of the effects of type of litter on chickens.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was carried out with the support of “Cooperative Research Program for Agriculture Science and Technology Development (Project No. PJ0144572019)” Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea, and Cooperative. And this research was supported by the “RDA Research Associate Fellowship Program” of the National Institute of Animal Science, Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea.

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