الفهرس 
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Abstract
Foot pad dermatitis (FPD) is a common disease and an important aspect of poultry welfare.In recent years the level of FPD has been used to characterise the health and welfare of poultry flocks. FPD is a type of contact dermatitis affecting the plantar region of the feet, with lesions surrounded by a reddening of the foot pads as a first symptom, then discoloration and hyperkeratosis often in combination with erosions and necrosis of the epidermis, with deep ulcers occurring in severe cases. Four consecutive experiments were conducted on 2 week-old female turkeys (BUT-Big 6) over a period of 3 or 4 weeks. In each experiment, the birds were divided into 4 groups with 20 birds each (except in the first experiment 18 birds each). The external and histopathological scoring for foot pads were done according to MAYNE et al. (2007). Experiment 1: The control group was housed on dry wood shavings continuously,whereas each other group was divided into two equal subgroups and exposed daily for 4 or 8 h to different moisture litter contents (35%, 50% and 65% DM) in adjacent separated
boxes. These different moisture contents were achieved by adding water as required. Experiment 2: The first 2 groups were kept on wood shavings (35 % moisture) with and without floor heating, the other 2 groups on lignocellulose (35 % moisture) with and without floor heating. Half of birds in each group were housed for 8 h/d in adjacent separate boxes where the litter was kept clean and dry (85 % DM) throughout the experiment. The temperature at litter surface varied at 35 °C in boxes with floor heating vs. 25 °C in ones without floor heating. Experiment 3: All birds were housed on wood shavings. Two groups were fed on normal dietary levels of electrolytes (1.7 g Na; 8.5 g K and 1.5 g Cl /kg), while the other two groups were fed on a diet with doubled levels (3.3 g Na; 15.7 g K and 3.2 g Cl /kg). For each dietary treatment, half of the birds were exposed to floor heating. Half of birds in each group (n = 10) was exposed daily for 4 h in adjacent separate boxes on wood shavings litter with a “critical” moisture content (35 % water). In each experiment, foot
pads were assessed weekly macroscopically and at d 35 for histopathological scores. Experiment 4: Two replicated trials were done. The first 2 groups were kept on dry wood shavings with or without floor heating; the other 2 groups were housed on wet wood shavings litter with critical moisture content (35 %) with or without floor heating. Only two birds in each group were experimentally infected with E. adenoeides (~50.000 oocysts/bird)nominated as seeder birds and/or primary infected birds.