Risk factors for pre-slaughter mortality in fattening and breeding rabbits
| Autor: | Claudia Caucci, Nadia Lago, Gerolamo Xiccato, Angela Trocino, Katia Capello, Matteo Mazzucato, Lebana Bonfanti, M. Brichese, Guido Di Martino |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2018 |
| Předmět: |
Pre-slaughter mortality
General Veterinary Animal welfare Dead on arrival Pre-slaughter mortality Rabbit Transportation Animal Science and Zoology Veterinary (all) Potential risk 05 social sciences 0402 animal and dairy science Pre slaughter Transportation 04 agricultural and veterinary sciences Rabbit Biology 040201 dairy & animal science Crate Dead on arrival Stocking Animal science Animal welfare Retrospective analysis Veterinary (all) 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences Animal Science and Zoology 050102 behavioral science & comparative psychology |
| Popis: | Pre-slaughter transportation of rabbits under commercial conditions may influence their mortality, routinely recorded at the slaughterhouse as DOA (‘dead-on-arrival’ rate). The aim of this study was to identify potential risk factors for DOA, including batch size (number of rabbits loaded), season, stocking density, and transport and lairage duration. A retrospective analysis of 6411 fattening rabbit and 450 breeding rabbit batches transported in a 3-year period to a major abattoir of Northeast Italy was performed. At least one dead animal was recorded in 62% of fattening batches and 14% of breeding batches. Average DOA was 0.08% for fattening rabbits, but in transports with at least one dead rabbit the average DOA was 0.13%. For fattening rabbits, significantly increased DOAs were observed in batches with 3508 rabbits, mainly during the summer, and at a stocking density higher than 29.3 kg/crate. The highest number of batches at high stocking density was found in winter (61% of all batches). Batches with high stocking density showed a higher DOA even in winter, suggesting that the reduction of space availability does not protect against low temperatures. Regarding travel duration, transports longer than 3 h increased significantly DOA by ≈ 40% compared to transports shorter than 1 h. A lairage longer than 7 h doubled the DOA compared to a lairage shorter than 2 h. The interaction between travel and lairage duration showed that a journey shorter than 1 h can significantly reduce DOA associated with a long lairage. For breeding rabbits, the average DOA in batches with at least one dead rabbit (n = 65), was 1.79%; no significant association with variables was detected. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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