Do Floor Heating and Litter Moisture Affect the Outcome of an Artificial Coccidial Infection in Young Turkeys

摘要

An objective of the current study was to determine the effects of floor heating when poults were artificially infected with Eimeria regarding the outcome of the infection and secondary effects on litter quality and health of the foot pad.Two trials were done,in each four groups of 2-week-old turkeys being reared during 4 weeks.All hirds were fed one identical pelleted diet without any anticoccidial additive.The first 2 groups were kept on dry wood shavings,with and without floor heating,the 3rd/4th group on wet wood shavings (～35％ water),with and without floor heating.In each group two birds " seeder" only were infected experimentally(～50,000 oocysts of E.adenoeides/bird)and nominated as primary infected.the other were nominated as secondary infected hirds.At trials' end each bird was scored macroscopically for coccidial lesions in the cecum as well as for oocysts counts(Log10)in cecal contents.Finally,the foot pads were assessed weekly.Using floor heating without exposure to wet litter in both trials reduced counts of oocysts in excreta of primary infectecl birds (1.52/1.21; 0/1.82 and l.69/0; trials l/2,at 16,20,and 24 d post inoculation).Nevertheless,in both trials using floor heating with exposure to wet litter resulted in higher counts of oocysts in the excreta of secondary infected birds(3.72/3.92; trials l/2 )at d 24 post inoculation compared with the other groups.Using floor heating resulted in significantly decreased foot pad dermatitis scores compared with groups housed without floor heating.It may concluded that when diet composition affects the litter quality,there are secondary effects on the process of Eimeria infection tested in a model with experimentally applied oocysts.