The Incidence of Liver Damage Found during Postmortem Examination at the Slaughterhouse

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F62157124%3A16270%2F23%3A43880964" target="_blank" >RIV/62157124:16270/23:43880964 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/13/5/839" target="_blank" >https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/13/5/839</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani13050839" target="_blank" >10.3390/ani13050839</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

The Incidence of Liver Damage Found during Postmortem Examination at the Slaughterhouse

Original language description

Simple Summary The liver is the principal organ involved in animal metabolism. A healthy liver is critical to proper protein, carbohydrate, and fat metabolism. In contrast, liver damage results in a deterioration of animal health and, thereby, their well-being. In this study, liver damage was monitored in all animals reared on Czech farms and slaughtered in slaughterhouses in the Czech Republic for a period of 12 years (2010 to 2021). The results show the highest prevalence of liver damage in cattle, followed by pigs, sheep, and then goats, both in adults and in fattening animals. Chronic lesions were significantly more frequent than acute or parasitic lesions in the majority of species and categories of animal species, with the exception of piglets and ducks, in which acute lesions were most frequent, and ewes and lambs, in which parasitic lesions were most frequent. We monitored liver damage in cattle (cows, heifers, fattening bulls, and calves culled from the herd), pigs (sows, finishing pigs, and piglets culled from the farm), sheep (ewes and lambs), goats (does and kids), rabbits, and poultry (end-of-lay hens, broiler chickens, turkeys, domestic ducks, and domestic geese) in the period from 2010 to 2021. All animals (n = 1,425,710,143) reared on Czech farms and slaughtered at slaughterhouses in the Czech Republic were included in the analysis. We determined the total number of damaged livers for individual categories of animals and also analyzed separately the incidence of damage of acute, chronic, parasitic, and other origin. The overall incidence of liver damage was higher in adult animals compared to fattening animals in all species. In cattle and pigs, the incidence was also higher in young animals culled from the herd compared to fattening animals. When comparing adult animals by species, the incidence of liver damage was highest in cows (46.38%), followed by sows (17.51%), ewes (12.97%), and does (4.26%). When comparing fattening animals by species, the incidence was highest in heifers (14.17%) and fattening bulls (7.97 %), followed by finishing pigs (11.26%), lambs (4.73%), and kids (0.59%). When comparing young culled from the herd by species, it was higher in piglets (32.39%) than in calves (17.6 %), and when poultry and rabbits were compared, the incidence was highest in turkeys (3.38%), followed by ducks (2.20%), geese (1.09%), broiler chickens (0.08%), and rabbits (0.04%). The results indicate that fattening animals have a better liver condition than mature animals and that culled young have a worse liver condition than older fattening animals. Chronic lesions represented the dominant proportion of pathological findings. Parasitic lesions occurred, first and foremost, in animals grazed on meadows with likely parasitic invasion, i.e., in ewes (7.51%), lambs (3.51%), and heifers (1.31%), and in animals in which antiparasitic protection is limited in view of the protection of meat from antiparasitic residues, i.e., finishing pigs (3.68%). Parasitic damage to the liver was rarely detected in rabbits and poultry. The results obtained represent a body of knowledge for measures to improve the health and condition of the liver in food animals.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

40301 - Veterinary science

Project

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Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2023

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Animals

ISSN

2076-2615

e-ISSN

2076-2615

Volume of the periodical

13

Issue of the periodical within the volume

5

Country of publishing house

CH - SWITZERLAND

Number of pages

13

Pages from-to

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UT code for WoS article

000947731900001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

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