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Animals
Special Issues
New Insights into the Poultry Musculoskeletal Development and Locomotion
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New Insights into the Poultry Musculoskeletal Development and Locomotion

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Poultry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2024) | Viewed by 1070

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Edgar Oviedo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Prestage Department of Poultry Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA
Interests: avian bone development; locomotion; mineral metabolism
Dr. Allison Pullin

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Animal Welfare, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA
Interests: animal welfare; animal behavior; keel bone fractures

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We invite you to contribute with original research or comprehensive literature reviews related to poultry musculoskeletal development. In this Special Issue, we would like to address the performance of the locomotor system, comprising muscles, bones, joints, and adjacent connective tissues. We could include manuscripts related to myopathies when addressing a direct link to the locomotion, health, and welfare of live birds, not just meat quality. Methods to evaluate bone, muscle, and tendon development as well as function could be presented.

The skeletal system is critical in poultry health, welfare, productive performance, and food safety. All of these impacts could be included in these manuscripts. Fast-growing chickens can suffer developmental issues observable from the first days post-hatch. Then, maternal, embryo development, and incubational effects could be embraced in this Special Issue, mainly if a link to adult bone development is discussed. Methods to quantify locomotion, voluntary movement, and all their welfare implications are of great interest. Layers housed in new housing systems suffer more skeletal fractures and keel developmental deformities. Research in this area will also be accepted. We also hope to have contributions on the impacts of bone development on the future eggshell quality of layers and breeders.

We hope that you find this Special Issue an interesting avenue in which to publish your research.

Prof. Dr. Edgar Oviedo
Dr. Allison Pullin
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • bone
  • muscle
  • tendon
  • locomotion
  • health
  • welfare

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

16 pages, 2796 KiB  
Article
Impact of Perch Provision Timing on Activity and Musculoskeletal Health of Laying Hens
by Mallory G. Anderson, Alexa M. Johnson, Cerano Harrison, Mireille Arguelles-Ramos and Ahmed Ali
Animals 2024, 14(2), 265; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14020265 - 15 Jan 2024
Viewed by 871
Abstract
Laying hens can experience a progressive increase in bone fragility due to the ongoing mobilization of calcium from bones for eggshell formation. Over time, this escalates their susceptibility to bone fracture, which can reduce their mobility and cause pain. The provision of perches [...] Read more.
Laying hens can experience a progressive increase in bone fragility due to the ongoing mobilization of calcium from bones for eggshell formation. Over time, this escalates their susceptibility to bone fracture, which can reduce their mobility and cause pain. The provision of perches as an exercise opportunity could potentially enhance bone strength, but the timing of exposure to perches during the birds’ development may modulate its impact. The objective of this study was to investigate the enduring impacts of perch provision timing on the musculoskeletal health of laying hens. A total of 812 pullets were kept in different housing conditions (seven pens/treatment, 29 birds/pen) with either continuous access to multi-tier perches from 0 to 40 weeks of age (CP), no access to perches (NP), early access to perches during the rearing phase from 0 to 17 weeks of age (EP), or solely during the laying phase from 17 to 40 weeks of age (LP). At weeks 24, 36, and 40 of age (n = 84 birds/week), three birds per pen were monitored for individual activity level, and blood samples were collected from a separate set of three birds per pen to analyze serum levels of tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase 5b (TRACP-5b) and C-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen (CTX-I) as markers of bone demineralization. At 40 weeks of age, three birds per pen (n = 84) were euthanized for computed tomography scans to obtain tibial bone mineral density (BMD) and cross-sectional area (CSA) with further analysis including muscle deposition, tibial breaking strength, and tibial ash percent. During week 24, hens from CP, EP, and LP pens had the highest overall activity compared to hens from NP pens (p < 0.05) with no differences between treatments for overall activity level during weeks 36 or 40 (p > 0.05). During weeks 24, 36, and 40, hens from CP and LP pens showed greater vertical and less horizontal activity compared to hens from EP and NP pens (p < 0.05). TRACP-5b and CTX-I concentrations did not differ between treatments at week 24 of age (p > 0.05). Hens from CP pens had the lowest TRACP-5b and CTX-I concentrations at 36 weeks of age with EP and LP hens showing intermediate responses and NP hens having the highest concentration (p < 0.05). At 40 weeks of age, CP hens had the lowest TRACP-5b and CTX-I concentrations compared to NP hens (p < 0.05). Total bone CSA did not differ between treatments (p > 0.05), but CP had greater total BMD than NP (p < 0.05) with no differences between EP and LP treatments. CP and LP hens had larger biceps brachii, pectoralis major, and leg muscle groups as well as greater tibial breaking strengths than EP and NP treatments (p < 0.05). CP hens had higher tibial ash percentages compared to EP, LP, and NP (p < 0.05). Our results indicate that providing continuous perch access improves the musculoskeletal health and activity of laying hens at 40 weeks of age compared to no access and that late access to perches has a beneficial impact on activity, muscle deposition, and bone strength. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Insights into the Poultry Musculoskeletal Development and Locomotion)
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