REVIEW article
Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Animal Nutrition and Metabolism
Comprehensive Analysis of the Effects of High Stocking Density Stress on Broiler Health
Provisionally accepted
Dongying Bai1Caifang Guo1
Penghui Ma1Ziwei Wang1Xiaodie Zhao1Xiqiang Ma2
Xiaolin Xie2
Yi Zhang1
Fangshen Guo1Yushu Zhang3
Bingkun Zhang4Cai Zhang1
Wenrui Zhen1*Yanbo Ma1*- 1Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang, China
- 2Longmen Laboratory, Luoyang, China
- 3The University of Shinshu, Matsumoto, Japan
- 4China Agricultural University, Beijing, China
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High stocking density (HSD) stress is a serious risk factor for poor animal health and loss of commercial productivity that affects broiler farms globally. While HSD can increase production efficiency and reduce costs, it can also lead to aggressive behavior and competition among the animals, unequal resource distribution, increased stress, disease, and loss of meat quality. Under HSD stress conditions, the redox balance is disrupted, inflammatory responses are exacerbated, immune function is impaired, and susceptibility to disease increases. This study reviewed the effects of HSD on the health of broilers, analyzing and prioritizing the associated physiological and biochemical changes. This review focuses on broiler chickens. HSD can have multiple adverse effects on poultry health, and this review evaluates nutritional strategies aimed at alleviating the negative effects of HSD stress to enhance welfare and productivity. By synthesizing current evidence, this review highlights the impacts of HSD on broiler health and welfare and identifies opportunities for nutritional interventions to mitigate these effects. This review provides a comprehensive reference for future research of HSD stress in poultry.
Keywords: Broiler health, hsd, Inflammation, metabolicdisorders, Oxidative damage, stress
Received: 07 Nov 2025; Accepted: 12 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Bai, Guo, Ma, Wang, Zhao, Ma, Xie, Zhang, Guo, Zhang, Zhang, Zhang, Zhen and Ma. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Wenrui Zhen
Yanbo Ma
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