SLOWAIR

General objective

To develop environmental predictors related to health, welfare—including …thermal stress—and the productive efficiency of slow-growing chickens, both on the farm and at the slaughterhouse, to facilitate improvements in production conditions.

Specific objectives

• Continuously monitor environmental conditions in slow-growing chicken houses throughout complete production cycles; evaluate indicators related to health and welfare (including thermal stress) during key production periods; and determine productive efficiency at the slaughterhouse.
• Develop new environmental predictors—based on continuous monitoring of conditions in production houses—that correlate with chicken health and welfare during key stages of the production cycle, as well as with productive efficiency at the slaughterhouse.
• Predict chicken health and welfare during key stages of the production cycle, as well as productive efficiency, using these new environmental predictors.
• Quantify the extent to which the new environmental predictors provide more information regarding health, welfare, and productive efficiency (on-farm and at the slaughterhouse) compared to the spot measurements taken during on-farm welfare assessments.

Expected results

• We expect to identify environmental predictors based on continuous measurements that better capture the dynamic nature of the interactions between the environment, welfare, and bird productivity compared to spot measurements. We aim to integrate this knowledge into models capable of predicting bird welfare on the farm and productive efficiency at the slaughterhouse.
• We also anticipate that the developed predictors and models will provide data-driven support for management decisions made by slow-growing chicken producers, enabling them to better control environmental conditions in production houses.
• This will enable them to anticipate potential problems arising from harmful gas concentrations and/or heat stress, resulting in a tangible improvement in the welfare, efficiency, and productivity of their flocks or herds.

• We aim to develop new environmental predictors that can be integrated into current assessment protocols and certification programs, leading to more accurate welfare assessments that help boost public confidence in the animal production chain and ensure its long-term sustainability.