The influence of multifunctional platforms and heat stress on broiler chicken bone health and lameness.

ABSTRACT: The skeletal health of broiler chickens is a key concern due to their rapid growth rates, which often lead to leg weakness, impacting both animal welfare and production efficiency. Heat stress further compromises bone development by disrupting bone metabolism. Environmental enrichment may increase broiler activity and thereby improve skeletal health. In this study, we evaluated the effects of a multifunctional platform (providing local cooling, shelter, and manure separation) on leg bone development under thermoneutral and heat stress conditions. Three production cycles were conducted using 560 male Ross 308 broilers, evenly assigned to four pens and reared for 43 days. The stable was divided into a thermoneutral and heat-stressed compartment, each containing an enriched and barren pen. He

SUBMITTER: Carvalho CL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12774742 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature