Publikationsdatenbank

Validation of an alternative feather sampling method to measure corticosterone (2021)

Art

Poster

Autoren

Voit, M. (WE 11)

Merle, R. (WE 16)

Baumgartner, K.

Fersen, L. V.

Reese, L. (WE 11)

Ladwig-Wiegard, Me. (WE 11)

Will, H.

Tallo-Parra, O.

Carbajal, A.

Lopez-Bejar, M.

Thöne-Reineke, C. (WE 11)

Kongress

Virtual UFAW Animal Welfare Conference

online, 29. – 30.06.2021

Quelle

Scientific programme: posters : UFAW Virtual Animal Welfare Conference, 29th June -30th June 2021 — UFAW (Hrsg.)

Wheathampstead, UK, 2021 . Recent advances in animal welfare science ; VIII — S. 127

Sprache

Englisch

Verweise

URL (Volltext): https://www.ufaw.org.uk/downloads/ufaw-conference-virtual-21---poster-abstracts.pdf

Kontakt

Institut für Veterinär-Epidemiologie und Biometrie

Königsweg 67
14163 Berlin
+49 30 838 56034
epi@vetmed.fu-berlin.de

Abstract / Zusammenfassung

Studies on birds’ welfare or their stress physiology are often complemented by measuring corticosterone levels in feathers. Until now, the common standard for this method is to collect feathers by plucking, a procedure which on living birds is presumed to be painful. Therefore, in most European countries an animal experiment application is required. The Directive 2010/63/EU requires the full implementation of the 3-R Principle of Russel and Burch in animal experiments. The aim of this study was to validate an alternative, possibly less invasive sampling method: cutting the feathers close to the skin. The examined species were geese (Anser anser domesticus) and ducks (Anas sterilis) from a conventional poultry husbandry. Feather samples were collected by cutting as well as by plucking between the shoulders from each individual, directly after slaughter for meat production. Feather corticosterone levels were measured with Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). The results were compared using Bland–Altman plots and concordance correlation coefficients (CCC). Comparing the mean corticosterone values of each species with their respective standard deviations, the differences between the methods were negligible. In addition, the differences between the individuals were markedly higher than the differences between the methods. The determination of corticosterone levels in cut feathers is valid compared to using plucked feathers. In conclusion, it is reasonable to assume that feather cutting could be established as an alternative sampling method for measuring corticosterone. Nevertheless, we recommend further research on other species to confirm these results.