Raising slower-growing broiler chickens means less efficiency for producers and potentially higher costs for consumers, but it would improve the welfare of millions of birds.
Raising slower-growing broiler chickens means less efficiency for producers and potentially higher costs for consumers, but it would improve the welfare of millions of birds, according to the largest and most comprehensive study of broiler chicken welfare worldwide by University of Guelph researchers.
The team hopes the study will help poultry breeders and producers to select traits associated with better welfare.
This is a potentially costly move but one that may end up benefitting the industry by lending support for higher animal welfare standards and improved meat quality favoured by consumers, said animal biosciences professor Tina Widowski.
“We found that, overall, many indicators of welfare are directly related to rate of growth,” said Widowski, who led a team of experts in poultry welfare, nutrition, physiology and meat science at U of G.
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Image via University of Guelph.
