Owing to selection for rapid growth and heavy muscle, bone deformities and injuries in broiler chickens are common and present a welfare concern. Recently, clinical quantitative computed tomography scans (QCTs) have been used for laying hens with significant, strong correlations between QCT-generated bone mineral content (BMC), bone ash, and analytical calcium. The objectives of this study were to determine if QCT-generated bone mineral density of tibias and femurs correlated to fat-free ash and if analytical Ca could be correlated to bone ash and digitally calculated density in immature broilers. Male broilers (Ross 708, n = 125) were raised from day 1 after hatching, and at 42 D, right leg quarters were collected from 50 randomly selected birds and frozen at -20°C until analysis. Leg quarters were scanned with muscle and feathers intact and arranged in rows on plexiglass, and each QCT included a solid Ca hydroxyapatite phantom. Tibias and femurs were removed from leg quarters after autoclaving, ashed, and weighed. Pearson's correlation analysis was conducted to understand the association between analytical bone ash and QCT BMC while paired t tests determined the amount of difference between QCT BMC and ash. Ash weight was strongly correlated to QCT BMC in both the femur (R = 0.86, P < 0.001) and the tibia (R = 0.91, P < 0.001). The average difference between the amount of actual ash weighed and BMC calculated from the QCT was 0.03 ± 0.22 g (P = 0.3) for the femur and 0.04 ± 0.22 g (P = 0.2) for the tibia. This study confirms that this technique can supply invaluable skeletal health information without sacrificing birds.

中文翻译：

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研究注：未成熟肉鸡的骨灰与通过定量计算机断层扫描所计算出的骨矿物质含量相关。

由于选择了快速生长和厚重的肌肉，肉鸡的骨骼畸形和受伤很普遍，并带来了福利问题。最近，临床定量计算机断层扫描（QCT）已用于蛋鸡，QCT产生的骨矿物质含量（BMC），骨灰分和分析性钙之间具有显着，强烈的相关性。这项研究的目的是确定QCT产生的胫骨和股骨的骨矿物质密度是否与无脂肪灰分相关，以及分析性Ca是否与骨灰分和数字计算的未成熟肉鸡密度相关。孵化后第1天起饲养雄性肉鸡（罗斯708，n​​ = 125），并在42天从50只随机选择的禽类中收集右腿四分之一，并在-20°C下冷冻直至分析。用完好无损的肌肉和羽毛扫描下肢，并在有机玻璃上成排排列，每个QCT都包括一个固态Ca羟基磷灰石体模。高压灭菌后，将胫骨和股骨从腿部切除，灰化并称重。进行Pearson相关分析以了解分析骨灰与QCT BMC之间的关联，同时配对t检验确定QCT BMC与灰之间的差异量。股骨（R = 0.86，P <0.001）和胫骨（R = 0.91，P <0.001）的灰分重量与QCT BMC密切相关。根据QCT计算得出的实际灰分重量与BMC的平均灰分之间的差异为股骨为0.03±0.22 g（P = 0.3），胫骨为0.04±0.22 g（P = 0.2）。