Preslaughter handling factors affecting dead on arrival, condemnations, and bruising in broiler chickens raised without an antibiotic program

In Thailand, knowledge about the fac-tors affecting broiler losses during the preslaughter pro-cess is very limited, especially for broilers raised without an antibiotic program. The objective of this study was to determine the preslaughter factors that influence the incidence of dead on arrival (DOA), condemnations, and bruising in broilers raised without antibiotics. Data from 13,581 truckloads of broilers raised without an antibiotic program in 95 contract farms of one of Thai-land's largest broiler producers in 2021 were analyzed using a generalized linear mixed model that accounted for farm as a random effect. Results showed that the fol-lowing risk factors were associated with the occurrence of DOA, condemnations, and bruising: season, time of transport, sex, age at slaughter, mortality and culling rate, and weight per crate. While mean body weight affected the incidence of condemnations and bruising, transport time and lairage time affected DOA and bruis-ing. Feed withdrawal time affected DOA and condemna-tions. Rearing stocking density only affected condemnation rate. Reducing or eliminating the effects of these risk factors could reduce production losses due to DOA, condemnations, and bruising, thereby improv-ing animal welfare and producer profitability. Reducing weight per crate could reduce DOA, condemnations, and bruising. Reducing lairage time could reduce DOA and bruising, while reducing feed withdrawal time could reduce DOA and condemnations. Raising broilers at a younger age with a lower slaughter weight could prevent the occurrence of DOA, condemnations, and bruising.