Associations among temperament, feather pecking behavior and meat quality characteristics in two strains of turkeys

Abstract Text: Research with several species has demonstrated that individual differences in behavior or temperament influence animal well-being and economically important characteristics such as meat quality. In particular, differences in fearfulness are related to feather pecking in laying hens and meat quality in pigs and cattle. Associations between temperament, feather pecking and meat quality have not been examined in turkeys. The objectives of this research were to 1) compare responses of male turkeys of a commercial (COMM) and randombred (RB) strain in an open field (OF) test, which is often used to assess fear and activity levels in poultry; 2) examine strain differences in feather pecking and meat quality characteristics (pH and L*, a* and b* color values); and 3) examine relationships among OF behavior, feather pecking and meat quality. Turkeys were housed in groups of 16 in 4 pens/strain and individually tested in an OF (2.74 x 2.74 m, divided into 81 squares) at 11 weeks. Turkeys were classified as high responders (HR: COMM n = 31; RB n = 25) or low responders (LR: COMM n = 13; RB n = 22) based on OF behavior (latency to walk (s), and numbers of steps taken and defecations produced). Meat quality characteristics were evaluated after processing at 15-17 weeks (COMM, n­ = 44) and 20-21 weeks (RB, n­ = 47). Commercial turkeys defecated less (PROC MIXED, SAS; lsmean ± SE; COMM: 0.3±0.1; RB: 0.6±0.1; P = 0.04) and took longer to start walking in the OF (PROC LIFETEST, SAS; median (25-75% range); COMM: 600 (163-600); RB: 337 (83-600); P = 0.05). There were no strain differences in the frequency of feather pecking or meat quality characteristics. Within strains, LR were the recipients in a greater number of feather pecking events per bird/day vs. HR (PROC NPAR1WAY, SAS; median (25-75% range); COMM LR: 0.06 (0.04-0.09) vs. COMM HR: 0.03 (0.03-0.05), P = 0.02; RB LR: 0.03 (0.02-0.07) vs. RB HR: 0.02 (0.02-0.04), P= 0.08). However, there were no differences in meat quality characteristics between HR and LR of either strain. Under the conditions of this study, there was little difference in meat quality between the smaller RB and larger COMM male turkeys. Results further revealed that within strains, turkeys that were less active in the OF (LR) were pecked more frequently compared to HR, but individual differences in OF behavior did not appear to be associated with differences in meat quality.

Keywords: turkey, meat quality, behavior