Effect of ambient temperature on death rate, reject rate, dressing percentage, and economic loss in broilers during transport to slaughterhouse

Abstract

The process of transporting broilers from the farm to the slaughterhouse is critical for animal welfare and for the production economy. During the transport process, the animal may suffer and die and this situation negatively affects animal welfare and profitability. The present study aimed to assess the impact of ambient temperature on the death rate, reject rate, and total economic loss in broilers during transportations in Turkey. The data of a total of 1,015,336 broilers transported for a two-year period were collected from a commercial abattoir. The average ambient temperature of the exact days of consignments was divided into three subgroups: Temperature (T), T1 (10.0-14.0 °C), T2 (14.1-19.0 °C), T3 (19.1-24.0 °C). The average death rates were 1.890%, 1.393%, 0.326%, and reject rates were 1.151%, 1.611%, and 1.441% found for T1, T2, and T3, respectively. Analysis of data showed the significant (p<0.001) effect of the ambient temperature on the death rate, and the higher impact was observed for T1 and lower for the T3. The reject rate among all groups was statistically significant (p=0.044), and the highest reject rate was found in T2 while the lowest reject rate was found in T1. The net economic loss due to rejected birds and death were 35,403 US$ and 30,692 US$, respectively, while the total economic loss was 66,095 US$. In conclusion, the results of the present study showed that death rate, reject rates, and dressing percentage are impacted by the ambient temperature. Furthermore, death rates, rejection rates, and potential economic losses of the birds are linked with transportation from farm to the processing plant, and there is a need for management strategies to be refined through research by assessing the on-farm to processing plant risk factors, their linkages, as well as their potential contributions in Turkish integrated broiler production system.