Feed additives and enrichment materials to reduce chicken stress, maximize productivity, and improve welfare

Vet World Vol.17 September-2024 Article - 11

Review Article

Veterinary World, 17(9): 2044-2052

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2024.2044-2052

Karim El-Sabrout¹, Stefano Landolfi², and Francesca Ciani³

1. Department of Poultry Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Alexandria University, Alexandria 21545, Egypt.
2. Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Apulia 70010, Italy.
3. Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Production, University of Naples Federico II, Naples 80138, Italy.

Environmental stress poses serious threats to animal welfare and production, particularly in poultry, which are susceptible to such stress. It can increase susceptibility to diseases and infections, reduce growth rates and reproductive performance, and increase behavioral issues. Environmental stress caused by conventional housing conditions can negatively affect well-being and productivity. High temperature, overcrowding, poor ventilation, insufficient lighting, and wire cages are some of the most prominent stressors in conventional housing systems. To address environmental stress in chicken farms, some strategies and tools, such as using anti-stress feed additives and enriching cages, can help improve bird behavioral activities and welfare. Breeders can improve overall bird performance by implementing these strategies and creating a more enriched and comfortable environment. Thus, this review discusses the importance of using different feed additives and environmental enrichment materials to reduce stress in chicken farms (broiler and layer) and improve bird productivity and well-being.

Keywords: antioxidants, behavior, environmental enrichment, gut health, product quality, stress, welfare.

How to cite this article: El-Sabrout K, Landolfi S, and Ciani F (2024) Feed additives and enrichment materials to reduce chicken stress, maximize productivity, and improve welfare, Veterinary World, 17(9): 2044-2052.

Received: 2024-07-09 Accepted: 2024-08-29 Published online: 2024-09-13

Corresponding author: Karim El-Sabrout and Francesca Ciani E-mail: kareem.badr@alexu.edu.eg and ciani@unina.it

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2024.2044-2052

Copyright: El-Sabrout, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/ publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.