The efficacy of litter management strategies to prevent morbidity and mortality in broiler chickens: a systematic review and network meta-analysis

Sargeant, J. M. and Bergevin, M. D. and Churchill, K. and Dawkins, K. and Deb, B. and Dunn, J. and Hu, D. and Logue, C. M. and Meadows, S. and Moody, C. and Novy, A. and O’Connor, A. M. and Reist, M. and Sato, Y. and Wang, C. and Winder, C. B.

Anim Health Res Rev (2019) 20: 247–262

DOI: 10.1017/s1466252319000227

Abstract

A systematic review and network meta-analysis (NMA) were conducted to address the question, ’What is the efficacy of litter management strategies to reduce morbidity, mortality, condemnation at slaughter, or total antibiotic use in broilers?’ Eligible studies were clinical trials published in English evaluating the efficacy of litter management in broilers on morbidity, condemnations at slaughter, mortality, or total antibiotic use. Multiple databases and two conference proceedings were searched for relevant literature. After relevance screening and data extraction, there were 50 trials evaluating litter type, 22 trials evaluating litter additives, 10 trials comparing fresh to re-used litter, and six trials evaluating floor type. NMAs were conducted for mortality (61 trials) and for the presence or absence of footpad lesions (15 trials). There were no differences in mortality among the litter types, floor types, or additives. For footpad lesions, peat moss appeared beneficial compared to straw, based on a small number of comparisons. In a pairwise meta-analysis, there was no association between fresh versus used litter on the risk of mortality, although there was considerable heterogeneity among studies (I2 = 66%). There was poor reporting of key design features in many studies, and analyses rarely accounted for non-independence of observations within flocks.

Citation

Sargeant, J. M., Bergevin, M. D., Churchill, K., Dawkins, K., Deb, B., Dunn, J., Hu, D., Logue, C. M., Meadows, S., Moody, C., Novy, A., O’Connor, A. M., Reist, M., Sato, Y., Wang, C., & Winder, C. B. (2019). The efficacy of litter management strategies to prevent morbidity and mortality in broiler chickens: a systematic review and network meta-analysis. Anim Health Res Rev, 20(2), 247–262. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1466252319000227 Animals, Chickens, *systematic review, *Housing, Animal, *Network Meta-Analysis, *mortality, *Broiler poultry, *Floors and Floorcoverings, *litter management, *morbidity, Poultry Diseases/*mortality/prevention & control

Keywords

• Animals
• Chickens
• *systematic review
• *Housing
• Animal
• *Network Meta-Analysis
• *mortality
• *Broiler poultry
• *Floors and Floorcoverings
• *litter management
• *morbidity
• Poultry Diseases/*mortality/prevention & control