The selection for high productivity by rapid growth, high feed efficiency and increased terminal body weight has led to a range of welfare issues in broilers, including wooden breast syndrome (WBS). WBS is defined as abnormal microscopic appearance in tissue samples and it is accompanied by hard consistency of the pectoralis major muscle post-mortem. WBS possibly exhibits metabolic signs of oxidative stress and it often appears with white striping, suggesting that fibres in the breast muscles of broilers are damaged.
The incidence of WBS in commercial broiler flocks is unclear, yet white striping is estimated to affect one-tenth of broilers and has been detected in 38% of the broilers in a recent study. WBS is only observed post-mortem and so far, there has been no detectable symptoms on live birds useful for singling out the affected individuals. It has been suggested that WBS has the potential to cause or contribute to significant walking difficulties. Furthermore, WBS may negatively affect other normal activities requiring a certain level of physical strength, e.g., perching that requires use of the breast muscles.
The thesis project will investigate the effect of WBS on a range of behaviours expressed by fast-growing broilers. The student will collect data on the behaviour of 32-34 day-old individuals with known WBS status (obtained post-mortem on day 38) from existing video recordings.
To be decided in agreement with the supervisor.
Department of Animal- and Veterinary Sciences, AU Viborg - Forskningscenter Foulum, DK-8830 Tjele. (The extent of physical presence can be agreed wih the supervisor).
45 ECTS (not possible to do 60 ECTS as the experiment has been completed, and not possible to do 30 ECTS as behavioural data need to be collected from the recorded videos).
Flair for data handling and statistical analyses will be a benefit, as this type of data collection creates large data sets.
