Modern Poultry

For the past 10 years, necrotic enteritis (NE) has consistently ranked as one of the top disease issues in commercial broiler production in the US Animal Health Association Annual Report.   Intervention strategies for NE have focused primarily on preventing overgrowth of Clostridium perfringens, the disease’s causative agent, and managing coccidiosis, which predisposes flocks to NE infection.   However, the trend toward reducing or eliminating antimicrobial use in broiler production has led to an increased incidence of NE, resulting in the need for alternative intervention strategies, such as vaccination, to control NE.    David Smith, DVM, HUVEPHARMA, INC, discusses the live NE vaccine recently licensed by the USDA at https://lnkd.in/esSACyN5 #necroticenteritis #poultryproduction #poultryhealth

Consumers, retail customers and even legislators in some states are embracing cage-free egg production, necessitating a shift in the laying-hen industry. What does that mean for the various laying-hen strains? And how might selection parameters need to change for animal welfare and productivity? These questions prompted a study by Bhavisha Gulabrai and colleagues from North Carolina State University, who found that both environment and genetics play a role. Read more at https://lnkd.in/eMPR4hig #poultryproduction #cagefree

Always champions of looking after the welfare of poultry for producers large and small, the Poultry Extension Collaborative is presenting a free webinar on November 14, "Sustainable agriculture and poultry welfare," that we thought would interest our readers. More information and the link to register is below.

Research by the University of Alberta suggests that breeder guidelines for amino acids may be significantly higher than what’s required and that producers could potentially reduce levels while still maintaining expected egg production later.    “Putting everything together, what we observed tells us that, perhaps, what we feed the pullets during the rearing program has quite a small effect on layer performance,” graduate student Jo Ann Chew reported at the 2024 Poultry Science Association annual meeting. Read more at https://lnkd.in/eCX-QwuN #poultryfeed #poultryproduction #poultryhealth #eggproduction

Providing chicks a dark period from the time of placement in the broiler house is practical and affordable for broiler producers and has no apparent negative effects on broiler performance, according to research conducted by Garret Ashabranner Ph.D.; Brian Fairchild, PhD; and Michael Czarick, engineer at the The University of Georgia. “These findings challenge the prevailing theory that providing broiler chicks with continuous light yields performance benefits,” Fairchild said. Read the article at https://lnkd.in/emazZS7u #poultrylighting #poultryperformance

Optimizing broiler growth and health requires a diet that delivers uniform nutrients to all birds. But that involves more than getting the diet formulation right. It’s also influenced by the feed bin and delivery systems, which determine the final product the birds receive in the barn. At the 2024 International Poultry Science Forum, Courtney Poholsky, Ph.D., PhD, Penn State University, reported on how feed flow within storage bins and nutrient distribution affect broiler bodyweight. Read the article at https://lnkd.in/e7s63D8z #poultrynutrition #poultryhealth #broilerhealth

Human beings have domesticated poultry species for eggs and meat production. Although domestication has favored tameness in animals, fearfulness as a trait persists and domestic animals often experience it when they encounter humans.   For poultry, negative human-animal interactions contribute to this fear and can adversely affect production and health, including decreased feed efficiency and reduced immune response.   Nabin Neupane and Prafulla Regmi, PhD, of The University of Georgia, discuss the importance of positive human-animal interactions and their impacts on animal welfare. Read the full article and access more newsletters from Poultry Extension Collaborative at https://lnkd.in/eTtityBX #poultryfarming #poultrywelfare

Traditional methods to detect Salmonella in poultry and trace outbreaks often fail to give the full picture of the threat in enough time for integrators to act. This lack of oversight limits the effectiveness of intervention strategies designed to mitigate Salmonella transmission.   Vaccination and other management practices have helped to reduce the flow of Salmonella from live production to processing, but quickly and accurately identifying Salmonella serovars circulating in flocks has proved challenging. “Over the past 2 years, a process known as deep serotyping — a multiplexed sequencing technique for detecting several serovars in a single sample — has provided a new lens for monitoring Salmonella risk throughout the poultry supply chain,” writes Kaitlin Karschner, CSM, PMP, Ancera. Read Karschner's article at https://lnkd.in/gDMzxDwM #poultryhealth #foodsafety

The topic of sustainability has expanded over the years and is dependent on many aspects. Among those are feed, bird productivity and health. “Feed additives that we add to animal diets are truly the control points for sustainability,” stated Michael Kogut, PhD, lead research microbiologist at US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS), College Station, Texas. Read more about how feed additives are key to sustainability at https://lnkd.in/e9n-bd2D #sustainability #poultryproduction #guthealth

Adding peas and pea products to broiler-chicken diets improved fattening performance and positively impacted the intestinal microbiota while having no adverse effects on growth performance or carcass characteristics, according to a research summary issued by the Poultry Science Association.   Results of the multi-institution study, conducted in Germany, suggest that peas and pea products could be an attractive alternative to soybean meal as a dietary protein source and provide potential gut-health benefits, such as reduced pathogenic bacteria and increased commensal bacteria.   “Peas, pea-protein concentrate and hulls are well-suited as feedstuffs for feeding broilers when used appropriately,” the researchers concluded, adding that intestinal microbiota responded “with an increased abundance of nonpathogenic genera that may help maintain intestinal microbial homeostasis.” Read more and access a link to the full paper from the Journal of Applied Poultry Research at https://lnkd.in/grpaK5Ww #poultrynutrition #poultryhealth