Avaliação do índice de mortalidade de poedeiras comerciais no sistema livre de gaiolas em uma granja do município de Jaboticabal - SP

Abstract

The free cage system is one of the alternative systems within egg production where birds enjoy the greatest welfare benefits. The objective of this work was to evaluate the mortality rate of birds housed in a free cage system from a farm located in Jaboticabal - SP. Six lots were analyzed, as follows: 1; 2; 3; 4; 5 and 6, which correspond to the years 2013 to 2016, where they were developed in pairs, simultaneously, but in different warehouses. In lots 1 and 2 the ISA Brown strain was used; 3 and 4 Dekalb Brown and 5 and 6 Lohmann Brown, totaling 4500 birds per lot. In order to facilitate the mortality analysis, the entire production period was separated by phases, by the percentage of egg production, as follows: rearing; pre posture; peak posture and post posture. Using the Kruskal-Wallis test it was found that in almost all batches the phase in which had the highest mortality was that of post peak production, except for batches 2 and 3, which had no statistical difference between the peak phase of production. posture and post peak and the phase of highest mortality was the pre-posture, respectively. Lots 1 and 2 had the mortality reasons described, and therefore were also used in the work. Through statistical analysis we observed that crowding had the highest average when compared to cannibalism, sudden-death, natural, prolapsed and others. We should pay attention to all mortality reasons, as through management some of them can be avoided. With the present study, we can conclude that the phase of higher mortality is the post peak production and that there was a tendency to reduce the percentage of mortality with the development of the lots. In addition, we can see that crowding is a type of mortality that we must prevent, because when it occurs, affects a large number of animals, increasing the percentage of mortality of production.