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Early experience of ammoniated environments and subsequent avoidance behaviour in domestic fowl

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2017

E. K. M. Jones
Affiliation:
University of Bristol, Division of Animal Health and Husbandry, Department of Clinical Veterinary Science, Langford House, Bristol, BS40 5DU, UK Silsoe Research Institute, Bio-Engineering Division, Wrest Park, Silsoe, Bedford, MK45 4HS, UK
C. M. Wathes
Affiliation:
Silsoe Research Institute, Bio-Engineering Division, Wrest Park, Silsoe, Bedford, MK45 4HS, UK
A. J. F. Webster
Affiliation:
University of Bristol, Division of Animal Health and Husbandry, Department of Clinical Veterinary Science, Langford House, Bristol, BS40 5DU, UK
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Extract

The adverse physical effects of atmospheric ammonia on stock (Charles and Payne, 1966; Wolfe et al. 1968) and stockpeople (Kirkhorn and Garry, 2000) have been documented, but broiler chickens’ perception of this aspect of their own welfare has not been fully investigated. Previous studies have demonstrated a delayed avoidance of high ammonia concentrations (Jones et al., 2000) but we could not categorically claim that this was a true aversion to ammonia since the birds may simply have expressed a preference for fresh air based on their previous experience. This experiment was designed to establish whether avoidance of ammonia in broiler chickens was an intrinsic aversion, independent of previous atmospheric experience.

Type
Open Communications Session
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Science 2001

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References

Charles, D. R. and Payne, C. G. 1966. The influence of graded levels of atmospheric ammonia on chickens I. Effects on respiration and on the performance of broilers and replacement growing stock. British Poultry Science 7: 177187.Google Scholar
Jones, E.K.M., Wathes, C. M. and Webster, A.J. 2000. Broiler chickens display a delayed avoidance of atmospheric ammonia. Proceedings of the 34th International Congress of the ISAE, p. 55.Google Scholar
Kirkhorn, S.R. and Garry, V.F. 2000. Agricultural lung diseases. Environmental Health Perspectives, 108: 705712.Google Scholar
Wolfe, R.R., Anderson, D.P., Cherms, Jr. and Roper, W.E. 1968. Effect of dust and ammonia air contamination on turkey reponse. Transactions of the ASAE, 11: 515518.Google Scholar