Influence of environmental enrichment on circulating white blood cell counts and behavior of female turkeys.

ABSTRACT: Under commercial conditions turkeys are housed in large groups in poorly structured environments. This leads to stress and subsequently to pecking and cannibalism. Environmental enrichment is suggested to reduce stress and feather pecking, thus leading to an increase of the overall flock health. However, the effect of increasing age on the use of enrichment elements and on the behavior repertoire as well as its correlation with health parameters has scarcely been studied. Therefore, our objective was to investigate the influence of environmental enrichment on the behavioral repertoire and on health parameters of turkeys. In 3 consecutive trials, female turkeys were housed up to 12 wk either in an unstructured (control group) or enriched environment (EE group) featuring elevated plateaus at

SUBMITTER: Lindenwald R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8327346 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature