- Email: [email protected]
A Foot Pad Dermatitis in Turkey Poults Associated with Soybean Meal1
76
F . Y. T A N G , T . M. H U S T O N AND H. M . E D W A R D S , J R .
Mulay, S., A. L. Carter and R. H. Common, 1968 Free and conjugated steroid estrogen fractions of hens' urine. Poultry Sci. 47: 67-76. O'Grady, J. E., 1968. The determination of oestraREFERENCES diol and oestrone in the plasma of the domestic Brown, J. B., 1955. A chemical method for the fowl by a method involving the use of labelled determination of oestriol, oestrone and oestradiol derivatives. Biochemistry J. 106: 77-86. in human urine. Biochemistry, 60: 185-193. Payne, W. R., Jr., and Wm. S. Cox, 1966. MicroCommon, R. H., L. Ainsworth, F. Hertelendy and infrared analysis of dieldrin, endrin, and other R. S. Mathur, 1965. The estrone content of hen's chlorinated pesticide residues in complex suburine. Canad. J. Biochemistry, 43: 539-547. strates. J. Assoc. Official Anal. Chem. 49: 989Lindner, H. R., 1959. Androgen in the bovine testis 996. and spermatic vein blood. Nature, 183: 1605- Snedecor, G. W., 1956. Statistical Methods. Iowa 1606. State College. Iowa Press, Ames, Iowa 5th ed. Lindner, H. R., and T. Mann, 1960. Relationship Subhas, T., and T. M. Huston, 1967. The influence between the content androgenic steroids in the of different environmental temperatures on the testes and secretory activity of the seminal vesplasma levels of FSH activity in female fowl. sicles in the bull. J. Endocrinology, 21: 341-372. Poultry Sci. 46: 1324. Mathur, R. S., P. A. Anastassiadis and R. H. ComVaron, H. H., H. A. Darnold, M. Murphy and J. mon, 1966. Urinary excretion of estrone and of 16Forsyth, 1967. Comparison of methods of detecepiestriol plus 17-epiestriol by the hen. Poultry tion for free estrogens and estrogen acetates on Sci. 45: 946-952. thin-layer chromatograms. Steroids, 9: 507-516. Wotiz, H. H., and S. C. Chattoraj, 1964. DeterMathur, R. S., and R. H. Common, 1967. Chromination of estrogens in low and high titer urine matographic identification of estriol and 16, 17using thin layer and gas liquid chromatography. epiestriol as constituents of the urine of the Anal. Chem. 36: 1466-1472. laying hen. Canad. J. Biochemistry, 45: 531-539. of m a g n i t u d e greater t h a n t h a t of fowl plasma.
L E O S. J E N S E N , R A L P H M A R T I N S O N AND G E O R G E SCHUMAIER
Department of A nimal Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman 99163 (Received for publication August 5. 1969)
D
ERMATITIS produced
in
turkey
b y feeding
poults
rations
cient in certain v i t a m i n s . A
is
defi-
dermatitis
this in poults fed diets sufficiently cient
to
reduce
growth
rate
defi-
(Heuser,
1935; a n d P a t r i c k et al., 1944). A defi-
characterized b y lesions on the corners of
ciency of biotin produced
the m o u t h and on t h e eyelids was ob-
which appeared
served in poults fed a diet deficient in
(Patrick et al., 1942). P a t r i c k et al. (1944)
p a n t o t h e n i c acid (Kratzer and Williams,
fed a purified diet deficient in either bio-
first
a
dermatitis
on the foot
pads
1948). A deficiency of riboflavin has also
tin or riboflavin
been reported to produce a dermatitis in
found t h a t dermatitis was prevented b y
turkey
Jukes,
biotin supplementation b u t not b y ribo-
1936), b u t others h a v e failed to observe
flavin. On t h e other h a n d , McGinnis a n d
1
poults
(Lepkovsky
and
Scientific Paper No. 3324, College of Agriculture, Washington State University, Pullman. Project No. 1941.
to turkey poults
and
Carver (1947) observed a dermatitis in poults fed a diet composed of practical ingredients which could be prevented by
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Cornell University Library on April 25, 2015
A Foot Pad Dermatitis in Turkey Poults Associated with Soybean Meal 1
77
FOOT PAD DERMATITIS
EXPERIMENTAL
Unsexed day-old Large White turkey poults of the Williams strain were used in all experiments except Experiment 1, where Wrolstad small white poults were used. In the first five experiments the poults were placed in wire-floored electrically-heated battery brooders at one day of age. The battery brooders had a 1.27 cm. mesh galvanized wire floor, but during the first week of each experiment a one-quarter inch wire mesh screen was placed over the regular floor in order to prevent the catching of hocks in the larger openings. Ten birds were placed in each pen and each diet was fed to three groups. In the last experiment, fifty turkey poults were kept in floor pens approximately 3m. X3m. with wood shavings as litter. Two such groups were fed each of the diets. During the last two weeks of the last experiment, water was sprinkled daily in the floor pens in order to create a litter condition more conducive to the development of foot dermatitis. The birds in all experiments were supplied with feed and water ad libitum. Composition of the vari-
ous diets used in the experiments is given in Table 1. RESULTS
Experiment 1. The purpose of this experiment was to determine if injection of day-old poults with antibiotics influenced the response of poults fed a practical diet to biotin. Details of the quantities of antibiotic and biotin injected and the results of the experiment are given in Table 2. Growth rate of poults was improved by either the antibiotic injections or by injection with biotin, and there was no further improvement when a combination of antibiotics and the vitamin were used. A high incidence of foot pad dermatitis was observed in all treatments and was particularly severe during the first week. As the experiment progressed the dermatitis gradually disappeared and by the fourth week only a small incidence was observed. Neither the injections with antibiotics nor biotin reduced the incidence of dermatitis. Therefore, the dermatitis appeared to be caused by some factor other than a biotin deficiency. Since, in previous studies with turkey poults fed a corn-casein-gelatin diet (Diet B, Table 1), no dermatitis had been observed in birds fed an adequate supplement of biotin (Jensen and Martinson, 1969), further experiments were conducted to determine the cause of the dermatitis in poults fed the practical ration. Experiment Z. This experiment was conducted to compare the effect of a corncasein-gelatin ration (Ration B, Table 1) with a corn-soy ration (Ration A, Table 1) and various supplements (or deletions) of these rations on foot pad dermatitis. Details of the experimental treatments and results are shown in Table 3. The supplements of the corn-casein diet markedly improved growth rate so that the rate of growth obtained was equivalent to
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Cornell University Library on April 25, 2015
a riboflavin supplement. The dermatitis appeared mainly on the feet, but slight incrustations were observed at the corners of the beak and around the eyes at three weeks of age. Biotin was not effective in preventing the dermatitis. In studies on the biotin requirement of turkeys, a severe dermatitis on the feet and around the head region developed in poults fed a deficient diet (Jensen and Martinson, 1969). However, during the course of these studies a dermatitis on the foot pad of turkey poults was observed which did not appear to be corrected by biotin supplementation. The purpose of this report is to present the results of experiments conducted to study this dermatitis in turkey poults.
78
L. S. JENSEN, R. MARTINSON AND G. SCHUMAIER TABLE 1.—Composition of basal diets Diet (%) Ingredient B
C
D
42.9 40.0
61.1
37.1 54.0
50.8 41.0
— —
19.0 11.0
—
5.0
— — — — — — —
— •
—
2.0 2.0 2.5 2.0
2.0 4.0 1.0 0.5 0.7 0.2
—
1.8 1.0 0.4
— — —
0.05 0.25 0.05
2.0 4.0 1.0 0.5 0.7 0.2
+
0.1
+
0.1
—
—
0.2 0.2
—
—— — — — — — — —
0.2 0.2
10.05 5.0
— •
—
— — — — — —
—
2.5
—
2.0 2.5 0.4 0.4
F
E
•
10.0 5.0 64.0 •
—
—
59.75 5.0
— —
20.0 10.0
— — •
—
2.5
2.5
—
—
2.0 0.5
—
2.0
—• •
—
0.4
0.4
— — —
— — —
— — —
—
—
—
0.05 0.25 0.10
0.05 0.25 0.25
0.05 0.25 0.05
1
Vitamin mineral premix supplied the following per kg. diet: vitamin A, 10,000 I.U.; vitamin D 3 , 3,000 I.C.U.; vitamin E, 10 I.U.; riboflavin, 5 mg.; Ca-pantothenate, 15 mg.; niacin, 70 mg.; vitamin B 6 , 4 mg.; thiamine, 3 mg.; folic acid, 1.5 mg.; vitamin Bi2, 5 meg.; choline chloride, 1,900 mg.; menadione sodium, bisulfate, 1 mg.; ethoxyquin, 250 mg.; biotin, 250 meg.; molybdenum, 1 mg.; selenium, 1 mg. 2 Trace mineral mix supplied the following per kg. diet: manganese, 50 mg.; iron, 50 mg.; zinc, 50 mg.; copper, 5 mg.; iodine, 1.5 mg.; cobalt, 0.5 mg. when fed at a level of 0.05% and twice these amounts when fed at 0.1%. 3 Turkey starter premix supplied the following per kg. diet: vitamin A, 5,550 I.U.; vitamin D3, 1,650 I.C.U.; riboflavin, 3.3 mg.; niacin, 17.6 mg.; Ca-pantothenate, 4.4mg.; choline chloride, 577 mg.; bacitracin, 11 mg.; ethoxyquin, 125 mg.
that obtained with the practical ration. Perosis was higher among the poults fed the corn-casein diets. The poults from this experiment were hatched from eggs TABLE 2.—Effect of injecting day-old poults with biotin and antibiotics on growth and foot pad dermatitis1
Injection
2
None Antibiotic Biotin Antibiotic+biotin
Average weight (4 wks.) (g.) 592 678 646 674
Index3 of foot pad dermatitis Week 1
2
3
4
2.2 2.7 3.3 2.1
1.0 1.4 0.9 1.0
0.6 0.5 0.3 0.4
0.1 0.2 0.0 0.1
1 All poults were fed Diet A (Table 1). 2 Each poult injected with antibiotics received the following: erythromycin, 5 mg.; dihydrostieptomycin, 5.5 mg.; streptomycin sulfate, 5.5 mg.; neomycin sulfate, 0.7 mg. Each poult injected with biotin received 150 meg. d-biotin. 3 An index of severity of dermatitis in which poults with no dermatitis were scored zero and the most severe, four.
laid by hens fed different levels of biotin and the high incidence of perosis may be partially related to a lower carry-over of biotin in some of the poults. A tremendous difference among the treatments in incidence of foot pad dermatitis was observed at 10 days of age. No evidence of foot pad dermatitis was seen in the poults fed the corn-casein-gelatin basal ration. Adding fish meal or isolated soybean protein to this ration also resulted in little or no dermatitis, but when 54% soybean meal replaced casein, gelatin and some corn (Basal C), incidence of dermatitis was very high. The incidence was also high in the corn-soy series whether or not additional biotin above that already included in the ration was added. Removal of fish
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Cornell University Library on April 25, 2015
Ground yellow corn Soybean meal (50% protein) Casein Gelatin Herring fish meal Meat meal (50% protein) Cull peas Dried brewers' yeast Dried whole whey Dehydrated alfalfa meal Animal fat Safflower oil Dicalcium phosphate Limestone Salt, iodized KC1 MgC0 3 Special vitamin mineral premix1 Trace mineral mix2 3 Turkey starter premix DL-methionine Glycine
A
79
FOOT PAD DERMATITIS TABLE 3.—Experiment showing an association of dietary soybean meal •with a high incidence of foot pad dermatitis in poults
Supplement
Basal
Corn-soy (C) 1 Corn-soy (A) Corn-soy Corn-soy Corn-soy
Feed/ gain
Perosis
326 408
1.51 1.34
5.1 5.1
0.0 2.6
425 386 406
1.40 1.60 1.51
4.8 10.3 8.1
0.0 76.9 62.2
395 394
1.57 1.56
2.8 0.0
94.7 97.5
385
1.49
2.4
82.9
(%)
Dermatitis (10 days)
(%)
1
Composition of this diet was the same as Basal B except that soybean meal replaced all of the casein and gelatin and part of the corn. 2 Safflower oil replaced tallow.
meal, meat meal, whey, alfalfa and yeast included in Ration A and substituting 2% safflower oil for animal tallow did not reduce the incidence of dermatitis. These results, therefore, indicate that the foot pad dermatitis was associated with the soybean meal content of the ration. Experiment 3. Graded levels of soybean meal were substituted for casein-gelatin in Diet B (Table 1) to determine the effect on growth rate and incidence of dermatitis (Table 4). Growth rate was not greatly different except it was lower for the ration in which all of the casein-gelatin was replaced by soybean meal (Diet C). No dermatitis was observed in poults fed Diet B with 10% soybean meal, but TABLE 4.—Effect of level of soybean meal substituted for casein-gelatin on growth rate and and incidence of foot pad dermatitis of turkey poults Soybean meal
(%) 0 (Diet B) 10 20 30 40 54 (Diet C)
Av. wt. 3 wks. (g.)
Dermatitis 10 days
381 394 411 373 397 344
6.7 0.0 20.0 46.7 60.0 70.0
(%)
the incidence increased with each increase in soybean meal so that with 54% soybean meal ration, 70% of the poults showed dermatitis at 10 days of age. Experiment 4. In the early history of the use of soybean meal in chick and turkey rations, a pastiness of the vent and stickiness of the droppings were observed, particularly in birds fed diets containing overheated soybean meal. This experiment was conducted to determine if length of autoclaving time of raw soybean meal would affect the incidence of foot pad dermatitis in poults fed these meals. Raw soybean meal was placed in shallow pans to the depth of 1.27 to 3.54 cm. and autoclaved at a pressure of 1.0545 kg./ sq. cm. for the length of time indicated in Table 5. Growth rate was improved by autoclaving the meal for 5-60 minutes, but not by autoclaving for 120 minutes. Some dermatitis was observed in the poults fed the raw soybean meal but the incidence was higher in poults fed meals autoclaved for 30 minutes or longer. Again there was no incidence of dermatitis in birds fed a casein-gelatin diet and a very high incidence in those fed the regular soybean meal used in previous experi-
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Cornell University Library on April 25, 2015
None 5% fish meal 30% isolated soy protein None None Biotin (250 mcg./kg.) 2% safflower oil2 (minus fish, whey, alfalfa and yeast)
Corn-casein (B) Corn-casein Corn-casein
Av. wt. ( 3 wks.) (g.)
80
L. S. JENSEN, R. MARTINSON AND G. SCHUMAIER
TABLE 5.—EJfect of length of autoclaving period of raw soybean meal on growth rate and incidence of foot pad dermatitis in turkey poults
Diet
C C C C
Dermatitis 10 days
195 337 333 337 198 374 363
46.2 67.7 90.0 90.9 89.3 0.0 100.0
(%)
1
Casein-gelatin diet. Same as above except regular commercial soybean meal was used. 2
ments. The results of this experiment show that degree of overheating may influence the incidence of dermatitis but that even with no heat considerable dermatitis was observed. Experiment 5. The purpose of this experiment was to determine if rations containing practical protein concentrates, other than soybean meal, would also produce the foot pad dermatitis. It was also desired to determine the effect of removal of a small mesh screen from the floors in the battery brooder used during the first week on the degree of dermatitis development. Replacement of most of the soybean meal with cull peas or with meat meal and fish meal markedly reduced the incidence of foot pad dermatitis at 10 days of age (Table 6). Both Diets C and D with high levels of soybean meal again produced a high incidence of dermatitis. Removal of the smaller mesh screen overlay from the battery brooder reduced the incidence of dermatitis from 70 to 18%. This observation suggests that the dermatitis is caused by a sticking of the feces voided by birds fed a diet containing a high level of soybean meal to the feet of the birds. If the chance of exposure of the feet to the feces
DISCUSSION
Although deficiencies of certain B-complex vitamins (particularly biotin and pantothenic acid) cause a dermatitis of the feet, head and other parts of the body in poults, other nutritional factors appear to TABLE 6.—Effect of removal of small-mesh screen and variation in protein sources on growth rale and incidence of foot pad dermatitis in turkey poults Diet - Screen No.
Description
C C E F D
Corn-soy Corn-soy Cull pea Corn-meat-fish Corn-soy
+ + + +
Av. Dermawt. titis 3 wks. 10 days (g-) (%) 344 366 288 342 325
70.0 17.9 6.7 13.3 73.3
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Cornell University Library on April 25, 2015
B1 C2
Av. wt. 3 wks. (g-)
is reduced, incidence of dermatitis is lowered. Experiment 6. All of the previous experiments were conducted in battery brooders. This experiment was conducted to determine if poults housed in floor pens with litter would develop foot pad dermatitis when fed diets high in soybean meal. Incidence of dermatitis was higher in birds fed the high soybean meal diet during the first week than in poults fed either the corn-casein-gelatin diet or diets containing high levels of cull peas or fish and meat meal (Table 7). However, as the experiment progressed, there was a shifting in the incidence. Birds fed the caseingelatin diet had a low incidence during the first two weeks, but at the third and fourth week no evidence of foot pad dermatitis was seen in any of the poults on this treatment. A reduction in dermatitis in the birds fed the soybean meal diet also occurred, but the incidence increased again during the fourth week. Dermatitis also increased during the fourth week for birds fed diets containing peas or meat and fish meal (Diets F and E).
81
FOOT PAD DERMATITIS TABLE 7.—Effect of diet on growth rate and incidence of fool pad dermatitis in poults kept in floor pens Dermatitis Diet No.
Description
Pen No.
Av. wt. (4 wks.) (g.) -
(%)
Week 1
2
3
4
Casein-gelatin
1 5
647 671
4.3 6.5
4.3 8.7
0.0 0.0
0.0 0.0
D
High soybean meal
2 6
514 517
67.4 30.4
30.4 20.0
10.9 0.0
31.1 20.0
F
High fish-meat meal
3 7
608 560
0.0 0.0
4.3 8.9
2.3 0.0
36.2 20.0
E
High cull peas
4 8
483 484
0.0 0.0
19.1 21.7
13.0 11.1
56.5 15.6
cause a foot pad dermatitis in poults reared in either battery or floor pens. Results of the experiments reported here show that this dermatitis is associated with the level of soybean meal included in the ration. McGinnis and Carver (1947) reported a dermatitis mainly on the feet of turkeys that could be prevented by riboflavin. Since the level of riboflavin used in the present experiments was higher than that used to prevent the dermatitis observed by these workers, it does not appear that a riboflavin deficiency was a factor in the dermatitis seen here. TJje dermatitis apparently is not caused by a nutritional deficiency produced by including soybean meal in the diet or by a toxic factor affecting internal metabolism. but rather b y t h e composition or consistency~of the feces voided by the birds. When the smaller mesh screen was removed from the battery brooders, thus reducing the quantity of feces on the wire screen, the incidence of dermatitis was markedly reduced. It is possible that micro-organisms associated with the feces adhering to the bottom of the feet of the birds causes an irritation which leads to lesions on the foot pad. The factor in soybean meal which is associated with foot pad dermatitis ap-
parently is in the non-protein portion of the soybean meal. Substituting 30% isolated soybean protein for casein-gelatin did not increase the incidence of foot pad dermatitis (Table 3). Use of protein concentrates other than soybean meal in diets of poults kept in battery brooders did not appear to produce the high incidence of foot pad dermatitis (Table 6). The same trend was apparent in floor pens during the first week (Table 7), but by the fourth week the situation changed so that there was as much dermatitis observed among birds fed these diets as those fed the high soybean meal diet. Poults fed the corn-caseingelatin diet showed no evidence of foot pad dermatitis during the third and fourth week of the floor experiment. The reduction and increase in incidence of dermatitis among poults fed diets other than the corn-casein-gelatin diet may have been related to sprinkling the litter with water during the last two weeks to increase the dampness. Bird density in the floor pens used in the experiment was lower than that normally used for raising poults under our conditions. The results of the floor pen experiment, as well as the battery experiment in which the screens were removed, suggest that incidence of foot
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Cornell University Library on April 25, 2015
B
82
L. S. JENSEN, R. MARTINSON AND G. SCHUMAIER
Does the foot pad dermatitis associated with soybean meal have any permanent detrimental effect on the turkey? There is no evidence that poults showing the foot pad dermatitis grow at a slower rate than those without the dermatitis. The real danger of the dermatitis may be that of providing a route of systemic invasion by micro-organisms. These organisms thus could gain an entrance into the blood stream and later settle in the joints to contribute to increased leg weakness in older turkeys. It would be of interest to determine if incidence of leg weakness in older turkeys is reduced when they are fed a diet which produces a low incidence of foot pad dermatitis during the first eight weeks of life. SUMMARY
A high incidence of a foot pad dermatitis was observed in turkey poults fed a practical ration high in soybean meal content and maintained in battery brooders. Little or no dermatitis was observed in poults fed a casein-gelatin-corn diet. Increasing incidence of dermatitis was
associated with increasing level of soybean meal in the diet. However, it was not produced by substituting isolated soybean protein for casein and gelatin, indicating that the protein portion of soybean meal was not responsible. Removal of a finer mesh screen overlay from the battery brooders during the first week reduced the incidence of dermatitis in poults fed a diet containing a high level of soybean meal. Poults fed diets containing other practical protein concentrates such as peas, meat meal and fish meal, but a low level of soybean meal exhibited a lower incidence of the dermatitis in battery brooders. Poults fed similar diets and maintained in floor pens with litter also showed less dermatitis during the first week, but about the same incidence as those fed a high soybean meal diet at four weeks. Poults in floor pens fed the casein-gelatincorn diet exhibited no dermatitis at four weeks. REFERENCES Heuser, G. F., 1935. A preliminary report on the vitamin G requirements of turkey poults. Poultry Sci. 17:227-234. Jensen, L. S., and R. Martinson, 1969. Requirement of turkey poults for biotin and effect of deficiency on incidence of leg weakness in developing turkeys. Poultry Sci. 48: 222-230. Kratzer, F. H., and D. Williams, 1948. The pantothenic acid requirement of poults for early growth. Poultry Sci. 27: 518-523. Lepkovsky, S., and T. H. Jukes, 1936. The response of rats, chicks, and turkey poults to crystalline vitamin G (flavin). J. Nutrition, 12: 515-526. McGinnis, J., and J. S. Carver, 1947. The effect of riboflavin and biotin in prevention of dermatitis and perosis in turkey poults. Poultry Sci. 26:364371. Patrick, H., R. V. Boucher, R. A. Butcher and H . C. Krandel, 1942. The nutritional significance of biotin in chick and poult nutrition. Poultry Sci. 21:476. Patrick, H., M. I . Darron and C. L. Morgan, 1944. The role of riboflavin in turkey poult nutrition. Poultry Sci. 23: 146-148.
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Cornell University Library on April 25, 2015
pad dermatitis associated with soybean meal can be markedly influenced by management of the turkeys. In previous studies in our laboratory (Jensen and Martinson, 1969), a high incidence of foot pad dermatitis was observed in 8-week old turkey poults fed a practical ration while no foot pad dermatitis was observed in poults fed a caseingelatin-wheat diet with adequate biotin. Unpublished subsequent work showed that biotin added to the practical diet did not prevent the foot pad dermatitis. Therefore, the marked difference in foot condition between birds fed the practical diet and the corn-casein-gelatin-high biotin diet (Jensen and Martinson, 1969) was probably due to the high level of soybean meal in the practical ration rather than to a difference in biotin level.
F . Y. T A N G , T . M. H U S T O N AND H. M . E D W A R D S , J R .
Mulay, S., A. L. Carter and R. H. Common, 1968 Free and conjugated steroid estrogen fractions of hens' urine. Poultry Sci. 47: 67-76. O'Grady, J. E., 1968. The determination of oestraREFERENCES diol and oestrone in the plasma of the domestic Brown, J. B., 1955. A chemical method for the fowl by a method involving the use of labelled determination of oestriol, oestrone and oestradiol derivatives. Biochemistry J. 106: 77-86. in human urine. Biochemistry, 60: 185-193. Payne, W. R., Jr., and Wm. S. Cox, 1966. MicroCommon, R. H., L. Ainsworth, F. Hertelendy and infrared analysis of dieldrin, endrin, and other R. S. Mathur, 1965. The estrone content of hen's chlorinated pesticide residues in complex suburine. Canad. J. Biochemistry, 43: 539-547. strates. J. Assoc. Official Anal. Chem. 49: 989Lindner, H. R., 1959. Androgen in the bovine testis 996. and spermatic vein blood. Nature, 183: 1605- Snedecor, G. W., 1956. Statistical Methods. Iowa 1606. State College. Iowa Press, Ames, Iowa 5th ed. Lindner, H. R., and T. Mann, 1960. Relationship Subhas, T., and T. M. Huston, 1967. The influence between the content androgenic steroids in the of different environmental temperatures on the testes and secretory activity of the seminal vesplasma levels of FSH activity in female fowl. sicles in the bull. J. Endocrinology, 21: 341-372. Poultry Sci. 46: 1324. Mathur, R. S., P. A. Anastassiadis and R. H. ComVaron, H. H., H. A. Darnold, M. Murphy and J. mon, 1966. Urinary excretion of estrone and of 16Forsyth, 1967. Comparison of methods of detecepiestriol plus 17-epiestriol by the hen. Poultry tion for free estrogens and estrogen acetates on Sci. 45: 946-952. thin-layer chromatograms. Steroids, 9: 507-516. Wotiz, H. H., and S. C. Chattoraj, 1964. DeterMathur, R. S., and R. H. Common, 1967. Chromination of estrogens in low and high titer urine matographic identification of estriol and 16, 17using thin layer and gas liquid chromatography. epiestriol as constituents of the urine of the Anal. Chem. 36: 1466-1472. laying hen. Canad. J. Biochemistry, 45: 531-539. of m a g n i t u d e greater t h a n t h a t of fowl plasma.
L E O S. J E N S E N , R A L P H M A R T I N S O N AND G E O R G E SCHUMAIER
Department of A nimal Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman 99163 (Received for publication August 5. 1969)
D
ERMATITIS produced
in
turkey
b y feeding
poults
rations
cient in certain v i t a m i n s . A
is
defi-
dermatitis
this in poults fed diets sufficiently cient
to
reduce
growth
rate
defi-
(Heuser,
1935; a n d P a t r i c k et al., 1944). A defi-
characterized b y lesions on the corners of
ciency of biotin produced
the m o u t h and on t h e eyelids was ob-
which appeared
served in poults fed a diet deficient in
(Patrick et al., 1942). P a t r i c k et al. (1944)
p a n t o t h e n i c acid (Kratzer and Williams,
fed a purified diet deficient in either bio-
first
a
dermatitis
on the foot
pads
1948). A deficiency of riboflavin has also
tin or riboflavin
been reported to produce a dermatitis in
found t h a t dermatitis was prevented b y
turkey
Jukes,
biotin supplementation b u t not b y ribo-
1936), b u t others h a v e failed to observe
flavin. On t h e other h a n d , McGinnis a n d
1
poults
(Lepkovsky
and
Scientific Paper No. 3324, College of Agriculture, Washington State University, Pullman. Project No. 1941.
to turkey poults
and
Carver (1947) observed a dermatitis in poults fed a diet composed of practical ingredients which could be prevented by
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Cornell University Library on April 25, 2015
A Foot Pad Dermatitis in Turkey Poults Associated with Soybean Meal 1
77
FOOT PAD DERMATITIS
EXPERIMENTAL
Unsexed day-old Large White turkey poults of the Williams strain were used in all experiments except Experiment 1, where Wrolstad small white poults were used. In the first five experiments the poults were placed in wire-floored electrically-heated battery brooders at one day of age. The battery brooders had a 1.27 cm. mesh galvanized wire floor, but during the first week of each experiment a one-quarter inch wire mesh screen was placed over the regular floor in order to prevent the catching of hocks in the larger openings. Ten birds were placed in each pen and each diet was fed to three groups. In the last experiment, fifty turkey poults were kept in floor pens approximately 3m. X3m. with wood shavings as litter. Two such groups were fed each of the diets. During the last two weeks of the last experiment, water was sprinkled daily in the floor pens in order to create a litter condition more conducive to the development of foot dermatitis. The birds in all experiments were supplied with feed and water ad libitum. Composition of the vari-
ous diets used in the experiments is given in Table 1. RESULTS
Experiment 1. The purpose of this experiment was to determine if injection of day-old poults with antibiotics influenced the response of poults fed a practical diet to biotin. Details of the quantities of antibiotic and biotin injected and the results of the experiment are given in Table 2. Growth rate of poults was improved by either the antibiotic injections or by injection with biotin, and there was no further improvement when a combination of antibiotics and the vitamin were used. A high incidence of foot pad dermatitis was observed in all treatments and was particularly severe during the first week. As the experiment progressed the dermatitis gradually disappeared and by the fourth week only a small incidence was observed. Neither the injections with antibiotics nor biotin reduced the incidence of dermatitis. Therefore, the dermatitis appeared to be caused by some factor other than a biotin deficiency. Since, in previous studies with turkey poults fed a corn-casein-gelatin diet (Diet B, Table 1), no dermatitis had been observed in birds fed an adequate supplement of biotin (Jensen and Martinson, 1969), further experiments were conducted to determine the cause of the dermatitis in poults fed the practical ration. Experiment Z. This experiment was conducted to compare the effect of a corncasein-gelatin ration (Ration B, Table 1) with a corn-soy ration (Ration A, Table 1) and various supplements (or deletions) of these rations on foot pad dermatitis. Details of the experimental treatments and results are shown in Table 3. The supplements of the corn-casein diet markedly improved growth rate so that the rate of growth obtained was equivalent to
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Cornell University Library on April 25, 2015
a riboflavin supplement. The dermatitis appeared mainly on the feet, but slight incrustations were observed at the corners of the beak and around the eyes at three weeks of age. Biotin was not effective in preventing the dermatitis. In studies on the biotin requirement of turkeys, a severe dermatitis on the feet and around the head region developed in poults fed a deficient diet (Jensen and Martinson, 1969). However, during the course of these studies a dermatitis on the foot pad of turkey poults was observed which did not appear to be corrected by biotin supplementation. The purpose of this report is to present the results of experiments conducted to study this dermatitis in turkey poults.
78
L. S. JENSEN, R. MARTINSON AND G. SCHUMAIER TABLE 1.—Composition of basal diets Diet (%) Ingredient B
C
D
42.9 40.0
61.1
37.1 54.0
50.8 41.0
— —
19.0 11.0
—
5.0
— — — — — — —
— •
—
2.0 2.0 2.5 2.0
2.0 4.0 1.0 0.5 0.7 0.2
—
1.8 1.0 0.4
— — —
0.05 0.25 0.05
2.0 4.0 1.0 0.5 0.7 0.2
+
0.1
+
0.1
—
—
0.2 0.2
—
—— — — — — — — —
0.2 0.2
10.05 5.0
— •
—
— — — — — —
—
2.5
—
2.0 2.5 0.4 0.4
F
E
•
10.0 5.0 64.0 •
—
—
59.75 5.0
— —
20.0 10.0
— — •
—
2.5
2.5
—
—
2.0 0.5
—
2.0
—• •
—
0.4
0.4
— — —
— — —
— — —
—
—
—
0.05 0.25 0.10
0.05 0.25 0.25
0.05 0.25 0.05
1
Vitamin mineral premix supplied the following per kg. diet: vitamin A, 10,000 I.U.; vitamin D 3 , 3,000 I.C.U.; vitamin E, 10 I.U.; riboflavin, 5 mg.; Ca-pantothenate, 15 mg.; niacin, 70 mg.; vitamin B 6 , 4 mg.; thiamine, 3 mg.; folic acid, 1.5 mg.; vitamin Bi2, 5 meg.; choline chloride, 1,900 mg.; menadione sodium, bisulfate, 1 mg.; ethoxyquin, 250 mg.; biotin, 250 meg.; molybdenum, 1 mg.; selenium, 1 mg. 2 Trace mineral mix supplied the following per kg. diet: manganese, 50 mg.; iron, 50 mg.; zinc, 50 mg.; copper, 5 mg.; iodine, 1.5 mg.; cobalt, 0.5 mg. when fed at a level of 0.05% and twice these amounts when fed at 0.1%. 3 Turkey starter premix supplied the following per kg. diet: vitamin A, 5,550 I.U.; vitamin D3, 1,650 I.C.U.; riboflavin, 3.3 mg.; niacin, 17.6 mg.; Ca-pantothenate, 4.4mg.; choline chloride, 577 mg.; bacitracin, 11 mg.; ethoxyquin, 125 mg.
that obtained with the practical ration. Perosis was higher among the poults fed the corn-casein diets. The poults from this experiment were hatched from eggs TABLE 2.—Effect of injecting day-old poults with biotin and antibiotics on growth and foot pad dermatitis1
Injection
2
None Antibiotic Biotin Antibiotic+biotin
Average weight (4 wks.) (g.) 592 678 646 674
Index3 of foot pad dermatitis Week 1
2
3
4
2.2 2.7 3.3 2.1
1.0 1.4 0.9 1.0
0.6 0.5 0.3 0.4
0.1 0.2 0.0 0.1
1 All poults were fed Diet A (Table 1). 2 Each poult injected with antibiotics received the following: erythromycin, 5 mg.; dihydrostieptomycin, 5.5 mg.; streptomycin sulfate, 5.5 mg.; neomycin sulfate, 0.7 mg. Each poult injected with biotin received 150 meg. d-biotin. 3 An index of severity of dermatitis in which poults with no dermatitis were scored zero and the most severe, four.
laid by hens fed different levels of biotin and the high incidence of perosis may be partially related to a lower carry-over of biotin in some of the poults. A tremendous difference among the treatments in incidence of foot pad dermatitis was observed at 10 days of age. No evidence of foot pad dermatitis was seen in the poults fed the corn-casein-gelatin basal ration. Adding fish meal or isolated soybean protein to this ration also resulted in little or no dermatitis, but when 54% soybean meal replaced casein, gelatin and some corn (Basal C), incidence of dermatitis was very high. The incidence was also high in the corn-soy series whether or not additional biotin above that already included in the ration was added. Removal of fish
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Cornell University Library on April 25, 2015
Ground yellow corn Soybean meal (50% protein) Casein Gelatin Herring fish meal Meat meal (50% protein) Cull peas Dried brewers' yeast Dried whole whey Dehydrated alfalfa meal Animal fat Safflower oil Dicalcium phosphate Limestone Salt, iodized KC1 MgC0 3 Special vitamin mineral premix1 Trace mineral mix2 3 Turkey starter premix DL-methionine Glycine
A
79
FOOT PAD DERMATITIS TABLE 3.—Experiment showing an association of dietary soybean meal •with a high incidence of foot pad dermatitis in poults
Supplement
Basal
Corn-soy (C) 1 Corn-soy (A) Corn-soy Corn-soy Corn-soy
Feed/ gain
Perosis
326 408
1.51 1.34
5.1 5.1
0.0 2.6
425 386 406
1.40 1.60 1.51
4.8 10.3 8.1
0.0 76.9 62.2
395 394
1.57 1.56
2.8 0.0
94.7 97.5
385
1.49
2.4
82.9
(%)
Dermatitis (10 days)
(%)
1
Composition of this diet was the same as Basal B except that soybean meal replaced all of the casein and gelatin and part of the corn. 2 Safflower oil replaced tallow.
meal, meat meal, whey, alfalfa and yeast included in Ration A and substituting 2% safflower oil for animal tallow did not reduce the incidence of dermatitis. These results, therefore, indicate that the foot pad dermatitis was associated with the soybean meal content of the ration. Experiment 3. Graded levels of soybean meal were substituted for casein-gelatin in Diet B (Table 1) to determine the effect on growth rate and incidence of dermatitis (Table 4). Growth rate was not greatly different except it was lower for the ration in which all of the casein-gelatin was replaced by soybean meal (Diet C). No dermatitis was observed in poults fed Diet B with 10% soybean meal, but TABLE 4.—Effect of level of soybean meal substituted for casein-gelatin on growth rate and and incidence of foot pad dermatitis of turkey poults Soybean meal
(%) 0 (Diet B) 10 20 30 40 54 (Diet C)
Av. wt. 3 wks. (g.)
Dermatitis 10 days
381 394 411 373 397 344
6.7 0.0 20.0 46.7 60.0 70.0
(%)
the incidence increased with each increase in soybean meal so that with 54% soybean meal ration, 70% of the poults showed dermatitis at 10 days of age. Experiment 4. In the early history of the use of soybean meal in chick and turkey rations, a pastiness of the vent and stickiness of the droppings were observed, particularly in birds fed diets containing overheated soybean meal. This experiment was conducted to determine if length of autoclaving time of raw soybean meal would affect the incidence of foot pad dermatitis in poults fed these meals. Raw soybean meal was placed in shallow pans to the depth of 1.27 to 3.54 cm. and autoclaved at a pressure of 1.0545 kg./ sq. cm. for the length of time indicated in Table 5. Growth rate was improved by autoclaving the meal for 5-60 minutes, but not by autoclaving for 120 minutes. Some dermatitis was observed in the poults fed the raw soybean meal but the incidence was higher in poults fed meals autoclaved for 30 minutes or longer. Again there was no incidence of dermatitis in birds fed a casein-gelatin diet and a very high incidence in those fed the regular soybean meal used in previous experi-
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Cornell University Library on April 25, 2015
None 5% fish meal 30% isolated soy protein None None Biotin (250 mcg./kg.) 2% safflower oil2 (minus fish, whey, alfalfa and yeast)
Corn-casein (B) Corn-casein Corn-casein
Av. wt. ( 3 wks.) (g.)
80
L. S. JENSEN, R. MARTINSON AND G. SCHUMAIER
TABLE 5.—EJfect of length of autoclaving period of raw soybean meal on growth rate and incidence of foot pad dermatitis in turkey poults
Diet
C C C C
Dermatitis 10 days
195 337 333 337 198 374 363
46.2 67.7 90.0 90.9 89.3 0.0 100.0
(%)
1
Casein-gelatin diet. Same as above except regular commercial soybean meal was used. 2
ments. The results of this experiment show that degree of overheating may influence the incidence of dermatitis but that even with no heat considerable dermatitis was observed. Experiment 5. The purpose of this experiment was to determine if rations containing practical protein concentrates, other than soybean meal, would also produce the foot pad dermatitis. It was also desired to determine the effect of removal of a small mesh screen from the floors in the battery brooder used during the first week on the degree of dermatitis development. Replacement of most of the soybean meal with cull peas or with meat meal and fish meal markedly reduced the incidence of foot pad dermatitis at 10 days of age (Table 6). Both Diets C and D with high levels of soybean meal again produced a high incidence of dermatitis. Removal of the smaller mesh screen overlay from the battery brooder reduced the incidence of dermatitis from 70 to 18%. This observation suggests that the dermatitis is caused by a sticking of the feces voided by birds fed a diet containing a high level of soybean meal to the feet of the birds. If the chance of exposure of the feet to the feces
DISCUSSION
Although deficiencies of certain B-complex vitamins (particularly biotin and pantothenic acid) cause a dermatitis of the feet, head and other parts of the body in poults, other nutritional factors appear to TABLE 6.—Effect of removal of small-mesh screen and variation in protein sources on growth rale and incidence of foot pad dermatitis in turkey poults Diet - Screen No.
Description
C C E F D
Corn-soy Corn-soy Cull pea Corn-meat-fish Corn-soy
+ + + +
Av. Dermawt. titis 3 wks. 10 days (g-) (%) 344 366 288 342 325
70.0 17.9 6.7 13.3 73.3
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Cornell University Library on April 25, 2015
B1 C2
Av. wt. 3 wks. (g-)
is reduced, incidence of dermatitis is lowered. Experiment 6. All of the previous experiments were conducted in battery brooders. This experiment was conducted to determine if poults housed in floor pens with litter would develop foot pad dermatitis when fed diets high in soybean meal. Incidence of dermatitis was higher in birds fed the high soybean meal diet during the first week than in poults fed either the corn-casein-gelatin diet or diets containing high levels of cull peas or fish and meat meal (Table 7). However, as the experiment progressed, there was a shifting in the incidence. Birds fed the caseingelatin diet had a low incidence during the first two weeks, but at the third and fourth week no evidence of foot pad dermatitis was seen in any of the poults on this treatment. A reduction in dermatitis in the birds fed the soybean meal diet also occurred, but the incidence increased again during the fourth week. Dermatitis also increased during the fourth week for birds fed diets containing peas or meat and fish meal (Diets F and E).
81
FOOT PAD DERMATITIS TABLE 7.—Effect of diet on growth rate and incidence of fool pad dermatitis in poults kept in floor pens Dermatitis Diet No.
Description
Pen No.
Av. wt. (4 wks.) (g.) -
(%)
Week 1
2
3
4
Casein-gelatin
1 5
647 671
4.3 6.5
4.3 8.7
0.0 0.0
0.0 0.0
D
High soybean meal
2 6
514 517
67.4 30.4
30.4 20.0
10.9 0.0
31.1 20.0
F
High fish-meat meal
3 7
608 560
0.0 0.0
4.3 8.9
2.3 0.0
36.2 20.0
E
High cull peas
4 8
483 484
0.0 0.0
19.1 21.7
13.0 11.1
56.5 15.6
cause a foot pad dermatitis in poults reared in either battery or floor pens. Results of the experiments reported here show that this dermatitis is associated with the level of soybean meal included in the ration. McGinnis and Carver (1947) reported a dermatitis mainly on the feet of turkeys that could be prevented by riboflavin. Since the level of riboflavin used in the present experiments was higher than that used to prevent the dermatitis observed by these workers, it does not appear that a riboflavin deficiency was a factor in the dermatitis seen here. TJje dermatitis apparently is not caused by a nutritional deficiency produced by including soybean meal in the diet or by a toxic factor affecting internal metabolism. but rather b y t h e composition or consistency~of the feces voided by the birds. When the smaller mesh screen was removed from the battery brooders, thus reducing the quantity of feces on the wire screen, the incidence of dermatitis was markedly reduced. It is possible that micro-organisms associated with the feces adhering to the bottom of the feet of the birds causes an irritation which leads to lesions on the foot pad. The factor in soybean meal which is associated with foot pad dermatitis ap-
parently is in the non-protein portion of the soybean meal. Substituting 30% isolated soybean protein for casein-gelatin did not increase the incidence of foot pad dermatitis (Table 3). Use of protein concentrates other than soybean meal in diets of poults kept in battery brooders did not appear to produce the high incidence of foot pad dermatitis (Table 6). The same trend was apparent in floor pens during the first week (Table 7), but by the fourth week the situation changed so that there was as much dermatitis observed among birds fed these diets as those fed the high soybean meal diet. Poults fed the corn-caseingelatin diet showed no evidence of foot pad dermatitis during the third and fourth week of the floor experiment. The reduction and increase in incidence of dermatitis among poults fed diets other than the corn-casein-gelatin diet may have been related to sprinkling the litter with water during the last two weeks to increase the dampness. Bird density in the floor pens used in the experiment was lower than that normally used for raising poults under our conditions. The results of the floor pen experiment, as well as the battery experiment in which the screens were removed, suggest that incidence of foot
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Cornell University Library on April 25, 2015
B
82
L. S. JENSEN, R. MARTINSON AND G. SCHUMAIER
Does the foot pad dermatitis associated with soybean meal have any permanent detrimental effect on the turkey? There is no evidence that poults showing the foot pad dermatitis grow at a slower rate than those without the dermatitis. The real danger of the dermatitis may be that of providing a route of systemic invasion by micro-organisms. These organisms thus could gain an entrance into the blood stream and later settle in the joints to contribute to increased leg weakness in older turkeys. It would be of interest to determine if incidence of leg weakness in older turkeys is reduced when they are fed a diet which produces a low incidence of foot pad dermatitis during the first eight weeks of life. SUMMARY
A high incidence of a foot pad dermatitis was observed in turkey poults fed a practical ration high in soybean meal content and maintained in battery brooders. Little or no dermatitis was observed in poults fed a casein-gelatin-corn diet. Increasing incidence of dermatitis was
associated with increasing level of soybean meal in the diet. However, it was not produced by substituting isolated soybean protein for casein and gelatin, indicating that the protein portion of soybean meal was not responsible. Removal of a finer mesh screen overlay from the battery brooders during the first week reduced the incidence of dermatitis in poults fed a diet containing a high level of soybean meal. Poults fed diets containing other practical protein concentrates such as peas, meat meal and fish meal, but a low level of soybean meal exhibited a lower incidence of the dermatitis in battery brooders. Poults fed similar diets and maintained in floor pens with litter also showed less dermatitis during the first week, but about the same incidence as those fed a high soybean meal diet at four weeks. Poults in floor pens fed the casein-gelatincorn diet exhibited no dermatitis at four weeks. REFERENCES Heuser, G. F., 1935. A preliminary report on the vitamin G requirements of turkey poults. Poultry Sci. 17:227-234. Jensen, L. S., and R. Martinson, 1969. Requirement of turkey poults for biotin and effect of deficiency on incidence of leg weakness in developing turkeys. Poultry Sci. 48: 222-230. Kratzer, F. H., and D. Williams, 1948. The pantothenic acid requirement of poults for early growth. Poultry Sci. 27: 518-523. Lepkovsky, S., and T. H. Jukes, 1936. The response of rats, chicks, and turkey poults to crystalline vitamin G (flavin). J. Nutrition, 12: 515-526. McGinnis, J., and J. S. Carver, 1947. The effect of riboflavin and biotin in prevention of dermatitis and perosis in turkey poults. Poultry Sci. 26:364371. Patrick, H., R. V. Boucher, R. A. Butcher and H . C. Krandel, 1942. The nutritional significance of biotin in chick and poult nutrition. Poultry Sci. 21:476. Patrick, H., M. I . Darron and C. L. Morgan, 1944. The role of riboflavin in turkey poult nutrition. Poultry Sci. 23: 146-148.
Downloaded from http://ps.oxfordjournals.org/ at Cornell University Library on April 25, 2015
pad dermatitis associated with soybean meal can be markedly influenced by management of the turkeys. In previous studies in our laboratory (Jensen and Martinson, 1969), a high incidence of foot pad dermatitis was observed in 8-week old turkey poults fed a practical ration while no foot pad dermatitis was observed in poults fed a caseingelatin-wheat diet with adequate biotin. Unpublished subsequent work showed that biotin added to the practical diet did not prevent the foot pad dermatitis. Therefore, the marked difference in foot condition between birds fed the practical diet and the corn-casein-gelatin-high biotin diet (Jensen and Martinson, 1969) was probably due to the high level of soybean meal in the practical ration rather than to a difference in biotin level.