The objective of the study was to assess the impact of drinking water sanitation on performance and welfare outcomes in broiler chickens kept on fresh or used litter. We hypothesized that under a more challenging environment (used litter), the impact of water sanitation would differ to that in a less challenging environment. Seventy-two pens housed 1,944 male broilers for 35 D. The treatments included a tap water control, water with fully activated ClO₂, water with partially activated ClO₂, and water with iodine, offered to birds housed on either clean or used pine shavings. The latter resulted from housing 20 birds per pen that had been vaccinated with Coccivac-B. The intended setup was successful as birds on used litter showed worsened feed conversion, body weights, and daily gains early in the production cycle, although these differences were lost over time. Water sanitation did result in altered drinking behavior, with fewer drinking bouts for birds on iodine treatment than for birds on control and fully activated ClO₂ treatments. Iodine-treated birds showed less severe footpad lesions than birds on other treatments. Similarly, birds on fresh litter had smaller lesions than those on used litter. Iodine- and fully activated ClO₂–treated birds experienced less chronic stress than control birds. The impact of water sanitation did not differ when birds were in a challenging environment (used litter) compared with those in a cleaner environment. Water sanitation did provide some benefits for production (body weight and daily gain) and welfare outcomes (footpad dermatitis and chronic stress).

该研究的目的是评估饮用水卫生对新鲜或用过垫料饲养的肉鸡生产性能和福利的影响。我们假设在更具挑战性的环境（用过的垫料）下，水卫生的影响将与在挑战性较小的环境下不同。七十二只钢笔饲养了1,944头雄性肉鸡，持续35D。处理方法包括自来水控制，带有完全活化的ClO _2的水，带有部分活化的ClO _2的水。以及含碘的水，提供给用干净或用过的松木屑饲养的鸟类。后者的原因是每只圈养了20只用Coccivac-B疫苗接种的家禽。预期的设置是成功的，因为使用过的垫料上的禽鸟在生产周期的早期显示出饲料转化率，体重和日增重变差，尽管这些差异会随着时间的流逝而消失。饮水卫生确实导致了饮水行为的改变，接受碘处理的禽类的饮水次数少于接受对照和完全活化的ClO ₂处理的禽类。碘处理的禽类比其他处理的禽类表现出的脚垫病变更轻。同样，新鲜垫料上的家禽比用过垫料上的家禽具有更小的损伤。碘和完全活化的ClO ₂–经过处理的鸟类比对照组的鸟类受到的慢性压力要少。与环境较清洁的禽类相比，在具有挑战性的环境（用过的垃圾）中饮水卫生的影响没有不同。供水卫生确实为生产（体重和日增重）和福利结局（足底皮炎和慢性压力）提供了一些好处。