TY - JOUR
T1 - Prevalence of breast muscle myopathies (spaghetti meat, woody breast, white striping) and associated risk factors in broiler chickens from Ontario Canada
AU - Che, Sunoh
AU - Wang, Chaoyue
AU - Varga, Csaba
AU - Barbut, Shai
AU - Susta, Leonardo
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Che et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
PY - 2022/4
Y1 - 2022/4
N2 - Spaghetti meat (SM), woody breast (WB), and white striping (WS) are myopathies that affect the pectoral muscle of fast-growing broiler chickens. The prevalence and possible risk factors of these myopathies have been reported in other countries, but not yet in Canada. Thus, the objective of this study was to assess the prevalence and risk factors associated with these myopathies in a representative population of Canadian broilers. From May 2019 to March 2020, 250 random breast fillets from each of 37 flocks (total, 9,250) were obtained from two processing plants and assessed for the presence and severity of myopathies. Demographic data (e.g., sex and average live weight), environmental conditions during the grow-out period (e.g., temperature), and husbandry parameters (e.g., vaccination) were collected for each flock. Associations between these factors and the myopathies were tested using logistic regression analyses. The prevalence of SM, severe WB, and mild or moderate WS was 36.3% (95% CI: 35.3-37.3), 11.8% (95% CI: 11.2-12.5), and 96.0% (95% CI: 95.6-96.4), respectively. Most (85.1%) of the fillets showed multiple myopathies. Regression analyses showed that the odds of SM increased with live weight (OR = 1.30, 95% CI 1.01-1.69) and higher environmental temperature during the grow-out period (OR = 1.75, 95% CI 1.31-2.34). The odds of WB increased with live weight (OR = 1.23, 95% CI 1.03- 1.47) and when flocks were not vaccinated against coccidia (OR = 1.86, 95% CI 1.51-2.29). This study documents for the first time a high prevalence of myopathies in Ontario broilers, and suggests that these lesions may have a significant economic impact on the Canadian poultry industry. Our results indicate that environmental conditions and husbandry are associated with the development of breast myopathies, in agreement with the current literature. Future studies are needed to determine how risk factors can promote the occurrence of these conditions, in order to implement possible mitigating strategies.
AB - Spaghetti meat (SM), woody breast (WB), and white striping (WS) are myopathies that affect the pectoral muscle of fast-growing broiler chickens. The prevalence and possible risk factors of these myopathies have been reported in other countries, but not yet in Canada. Thus, the objective of this study was to assess the prevalence and risk factors associated with these myopathies in a representative population of Canadian broilers. From May 2019 to March 2020, 250 random breast fillets from each of 37 flocks (total, 9,250) were obtained from two processing plants and assessed for the presence and severity of myopathies. Demographic data (e.g., sex and average live weight), environmental conditions during the grow-out period (e.g., temperature), and husbandry parameters (e.g., vaccination) were collected for each flock. Associations between these factors and the myopathies were tested using logistic regression analyses. The prevalence of SM, severe WB, and mild or moderate WS was 36.3% (95% CI: 35.3-37.3), 11.8% (95% CI: 11.2-12.5), and 96.0% (95% CI: 95.6-96.4), respectively. Most (85.1%) of the fillets showed multiple myopathies. Regression analyses showed that the odds of SM increased with live weight (OR = 1.30, 95% CI 1.01-1.69) and higher environmental temperature during the grow-out period (OR = 1.75, 95% CI 1.31-2.34). The odds of WB increased with live weight (OR = 1.23, 95% CI 1.03- 1.47) and when flocks were not vaccinated against coccidia (OR = 1.86, 95% CI 1.51-2.29). This study documents for the first time a high prevalence of myopathies in Ontario broilers, and suggests that these lesions may have a significant economic impact on the Canadian poultry industry. Our results indicate that environmental conditions and husbandry are associated with the development of breast myopathies, in agreement with the current literature. Future studies are needed to determine how risk factors can promote the occurrence of these conditions, in order to implement possible mitigating strategies.
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U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0267019
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0267019
M3 - Article
C2 - 35427383
AN - SCOPUS:85128465435
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 17
JO - PloS one
JF - PloS one
IS - 4 April
M1 - e0267019
ER -