Leg Weakness Pathology in Broiler Chickens

The aim of the present work is to make a review on the literature concerning the incidence of some major pathologies of leg skeleton in broiler chickens and broiler breeders, related to poor animal welfare. On the basis of data on the incidence of leg skeletal pathology published by us and by other researchers, this review goes through some reports on femoral head necrosis (FHN), tibial dyschondroplasia (TD), rupture of the gastrocnemius tendon (RGT) and rickets. The welfare of broiler chickens and breeder flocks continues to be closely related to leg skeletal pathology. Although some reports establish that most abnormalities related to legs in chickens were largely overcome by selection work and improvement of production systems by the end of the 20 th century, the problems still occupy an important place in broiler production. Apart published literature data, own results from the last decade (2001-2011) were also used.