Growth rate as a major factor in causing skeletal disorders in broilers
Later in this paper I will refer to more recent gait scoring surveys of the incidence of
leg problems in broilers. However, first it is important to establish to what degree
genotype is significant in causing leg problems.
One of the studies comprised in Kestin et al’s 1992 paper looked at the prevalence of
leg weakness in four breeds of broilers. The birds were grown at commercial
stocking densities and on commercial rations. Breeds a, b and c were commercial
breeds which, at least at that time, were available worldwide and accounted for
most of the broilers killed in the US and the UK. The fourth (d) was a control line
from the same original stock as one of the UK commercial breeds, but randomly
bred for eleven generations.