Remedying Footpad Dermatitis Lesions in Broiler Chickens

Footpad dermatitis (FPD) is an irritation of the skin, with necrotic lesions on the surface of the footpad. FPD can affect bird welfare due to pain and behavioral restriction. Furthermore, FPD can pose a health risk and reduce performance. Flock-level remedial approaches to developed lesions are unknown. Thus, our objective was to assess three remedial treatments to developed FPD lesions, and compare those to preventative approaches and a control treatment. Day-old male broilers (546 Hubbard*Ross) were housed in 42 pens (1.25 m2), with 13 birds/pen. We tested 7 treatments, with 3 flooring treatments provided either from day 1 (preventative approach; PREV) or day 29 (remedial approach; REM), plus a control treatment. The flooring treatments were: used litter from a previous flock (CONTROL), new pine shavings replaced every 4 days (CLEAN), disinfectant foam mat (0.42 m2) covered with polyester mesh filled with 1% povidone-iodine solution (MAT), and the mat with iodine placed on a plastic slatted floor (0.72 m2, SLAT). FPD and gait were assessed weekly (0-100 score, with 100 representing worst lesions/gait) from 7 birds per pen (n=294 birds). Data were analyzed in SAS 9.4. Results are presented as LSMeans. MAT and SLAT treatments showed worst FPD and gait scores when provided from day 1 or day 29, compared to other treatments, including CONTROL. Providing and replacing litter from day 1 (PREVCLEAN) consistently resulted in healthier footpads (PREV-CLEAN FPD score 3.3, CONTROL 15.4, PREV-MAT 47.4, PREV-SLAT 52.4; SEM 3; P<0.001) and lower (better) gait scores (PREV-CLEAN gait score 7.8, CONTROL 11.2, PREV-MAT 13.8, PREV-SLAT 12.7; SEM 2; P<0.001) compared to the other treatments. Furthermore, providing clean litter from day 29 (REM-CLEAN) resulted in healing of FPD lesions (FPD score 12.4 in week 4 vs. 2.5 in week 7; SEM 3; P≤0.05), but did not result in improved gait scores (gait score 8.4 in week 4 vs. 23.6 in week 7; SEM 2; P≤0.05). While iodine is an effective antiseptic, it was ineffective as a treatment for FPD in our study. The continuous provision of clean litter worked best to avoid and counteract FPD lesion development and a similar approach may be feasible in a commercial setting.