NFLUENCE OF APPLYING BROILER WELFARE LAWS ON UNIT COST

European Union and especially some national governments have gradually increased production costs by political decisions of introducing new rules concerning food safety, protection of environment and animal welfare. This paper has been performed to assess economical consequences of applying broiler welfare laws on unit cost by kg live weight. The study was performed during four years with production data from six top poultry farms from Romania before (V1) and after the introduction ob broiler welfare rules (V2 and V3). Percentage of savings and losses was calculated for each variant based on unit cost which was found before welfare rules came into action based on expenses categories in same economical conditions to emphasize economical consequences of applying broiler welfare rules. Analyzing these percentages has revealed that unit cost is 1.81% higher in variant V2 than in variant V1 and 3.43% higher in variant V3 compared to base variant. Highest losses by expense category have been noted for lightning (48.22% - V2 and 105.50% - V3) followed by fuel, amortisements and labour force expanses. Lowest losses are in other expenses category with values between 4.86% in variant V2 and 16.16% in variant V3. These losses are due to more lamps used for lightning. Besides these losses welfare rules also brings savings in unit costs between 1.12% for biological material and feeds ? V2 and 37.50% for ventilation energy ? V3.