White striping (WS) is a muscle alteration characterized by the presence of white striations parallel to the direction of muscle fibers that affects poultry meat. To evaluate the age of WS onset in broiler chickens, and the effect of diet and different coccidiosis control programs on WS prevalence an experimental study was conducted on 180 chickens. One-day-old chicks were randomly divided into four experimental treatments: control, coccidiostat, vaccinated, and vaccinated fed with a low energy diet. Twenty animals per treatment were sacrifi ced at 12 and 25 days of age, breasts were scored for WS (0=absence, 1=mild, 2=severe) and a sample of each breast was collected for histology. The remaining chickens were slaughtered at 51 days of age and breasts were scored for WS. WS appearance was detected grossly only at 25 and 51 days, but histological lesion were present since 12 days of age. At 51 days the WS prevalence was above 90% in all groups, no differences were found between the two different diets, but a signifi cantly higher prevalence of score 2 was present in the Coccidiostat group vs others (P<0.001), suggesting a coccidiostat effect on WS appearance.
Insorgenza e prevalenza di “White striping” in broiler pesanti sottoposti a diversi programmi di controllo della coccidiosi
CATELLI, ELENA;FELICE, VIVIANA;
2015
Abstract
White striping (WS) is a muscle alteration characterized by the presence of white striations parallel to the direction of muscle fibers that affects poultry meat. To evaluate the age of WS onset in broiler chickens, and the effect of diet and different coccidiosis control programs on WS prevalence an experimental study was conducted on 180 chickens. One-day-old chicks were randomly divided into four experimental treatments: control, coccidiostat, vaccinated, and vaccinated fed with a low energy diet. Twenty animals per treatment were sacrifi ced at 12 and 25 days of age, breasts were scored for WS (0=absence, 1=mild, 2=severe) and a sample of each breast was collected for histology. The remaining chickens were slaughtered at 51 days of age and breasts were scored for WS. WS appearance was detected grossly only at 25 and 51 days, but histological lesion were present since 12 days of age. At 51 days the WS prevalence was above 90% in all groups, no differences were found between the two different diets, but a signifi cantly higher prevalence of score 2 was present in the Coccidiostat group vs others (P<0.001), suggesting a coccidiostat effect on WS appearance.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
