Occurrence: About 1% of all heavy broilers reared worldwide have some degree of this disease.
Species affected: Broilers and turkeys
Age affected: 5 to 8 weeks old
Causes: This disease is not contagious. Genetic and/or dietary factors may be involved. Grain high in Fusarium roseum or fungicide (tetra methylthiuram sulfate) can cause the disease.
Effects: Lameness in as many as 30% of the flock (reluctance to move, a stilted gait, and bilateral swelling of the femoral‑tibial joints) can be seen. Leeds to trimming and downgrading in the processing plant.
Tibial dyschondroplasia (TD)
Noncontagious. Physiological disturbance.
Bowing of the bones is evident and is more severe in rooster birds or males kept over 8 weeks for de-boning with body weight over 2.2 kgs (5 lbs).
Proximal tibiotarsal bone is enlarged and contains an abnormal mass of cartilage (failure of cartilage in growth plate to become calcified). Fractures below the abnormal cartilage may occur.
History, clinical signs and postmortem lesions (abnormal mass of cartilage in tibial head) are characteristic. Microscopically, dyschondroplasia is characterized by persistence and accumulation of pre-hypertrophic cartilage and begins as early as the first week of age. Chondrocytes in abnormal cartilage are smaller and shrunken. It simulates perosis, rickets, and osteochondrosis (necrosis of growth plate primarily in the vertebrae and femoral head). Lithoscope can detect TD in birds as young as 1 week of age. This machine is used by basic breeder companies to select out TD in their genetic lines.
Slow the growth rate by using lighting or feed restriction program and select strains with a lower incidence of TD.
Diet changes will reduce the disease such as reducing phosphorus relative to the level of calcium. Feed a diet free of Fusarium and tetramethylthiurams sulfate.
Securing carcass quality with minerals
Over the last 5 years broiler carcass prices remained below 1.8 euro/kg and cut prices were stagnating ranging from 1 to 2.5 Euro/kg of carcass. Good carcass quality has become a minimum requirement for trading and a constant focus on preventing downgrading is imperative. Trace element supplementation in feed can help