Zootecnica International - English edition - 12 December - 2020

Zootecnica International – December 2020 – POSTE ITALIANE Spa – Spedizione in Abbonamento Postale 70%, Firenze

What role for poultry meat in the EU’s Farm to Fork strategy?

Problem solving: drinking water challenges Understanding the woody breast syndrome and other myopathies in modern broiler chickens

12 2020

The new feeders of the «Gió» range, specifically developed for great poultry farms, thanks to the easiness in the regulation of the feed and to the absence of grill (that avoid chicks perching) have many advantages: they are easy to use and their cleaning is extremely easy and fast too, leading to an overall reduction in labour costs.

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EDITORIAL The technological question has always been under fire from both institutional apparatuses and the public opinion. The technological process has in recent years developed in a rapid and convulsive manner, thus invading practically all sectors while eluding a social awareness of what is really happening. The technological process inevitably has repercussions on man and the environment: new technology raises at least as many problems as it resolves.

Naturally, the industrialized countries are more closely concerned with this problem, as they are, after all, responsible for what happens. However, up to today, very little has been done to actually develop an international cooperative programme to deal with this issue. When speaking of new technology, and of its social acceptance, we often fall into ambiguity and misinterpretation of the terms at hand. Social consensus of new technology should be a gradual process of ‘interiorization’ by the individual.

We often forget that real progress is the utilization of the knowledge and the acquisitions of new science in order to create new means and systems to improve man’s conditions in life. The role of the media within the sphere of information (and therefore, within the grasp of public awareness) is very important.

On the other hand, only very few industry operators have the privileged access to scientific information. What consists of the rest of the news is often selected and disclosed in a distorted manner. At this point we must distinguish between mass disclosure and scientific disclosure. We must also consider that unfortunately, a lot of information is not disclosed to the general public. Therefore, it is necessary for each person to become aware of this problem. Each person must know that there exists a type of information which tends to only raise impressions or emotional tensions to a certain level and there are other types of information that go beyond immediate impressions.

Real social consensus consists of precisely, the interiorization process. Our degree of awareness should not depend on informative data, but rather on the values which we each can inwardly refer to.

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SUMMARY WORLDWIDE NEWS............................................................................. 4 COMPANY NEWS................................................................................. 10 FIELD REPORT

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An outbreak of Corynebacterium diphtheriae infection in broiler chickens in Lagos, Nigeria............................................................... 12

INTERVIEW Giordano Poultry Plast keeps growing............................................................ 16

FOCUS What role for poultry meat in the EU’s Farm to Fork strategy?.......................... 18

MARKETING Regional concentration in global poultry meat production................................ 24

TECHNICAL COLUMN

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Problem solving: drinking water challenges..................................................... 28

MANAGEMENT Management of chicken manure.................................................................... 32 Biosecurity: protecting our flocks to sustain the supply chain........................... 34

NUTRITION Protein nutrition of breeders to improve production, hatchability and offspring performance – First Part.................................................................. 36 Antioxidants in poultry nutrition and reproduction. An update........................... 42

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PROCESSING Understanding the woody breast syndrome and other myopathies in modern broiler chickens ............................................................................ 48

MARKET GUIDE.................................................................................52 EVENTS.................................................................................................56 INTERNET GUIDE.............................................................................56

WORLDWIDE NEWS

Infectious bronchitis virus spike protein-pseudotyped virus particles for vaccine applications USPOULTRY and the USPOULTRY Foundation announce the completion of a funded research project at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, in which researchers evaluated a novel method to vaccinate for infectious bronchitis viruses. The research was made possible in part by an endowing Foundation gift from Fieldale Farms and is part of the Association’s comprehensive research program encompassing all phases of poultry and egg production and processing.

To date, there are dozens of identified serotypes and hundreds of variants circulating in commercial poultry world-wide. Current control strategies rely on isolating a new IBV variant, determining the serotype through correlation with the spike protein genotype, taking the isolated virus and passaging it through embryonated eggs until the virus has become adapted to embryos and therefore less pathogenic to live chickens (typically over 100 passages), performing efficacy studies, and finally, licensing through governmental agencies for use in commercial poultry. This process often takes more than two years to complete, wherein during that time the virus is uncontrolled in poultry flocks causing significant disease and economic losses.

©Michal Jarmoluk

Dr. Brian Jordan and Dr. Mark Jackwood, § University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia

Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) is an economically important respiratory virus of chickens. Control of the disease caused by IBV is achieved through vaccination with live-attenuated virus strains. However, many serotypes of IBV exist, and there is minimal cross-protection between variants. Disease surveillance and vaccine development is thus a constant, on-going effort to keep up with new and emerging IBV strains.

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The goal of this research project was to evaluate the potential for pseudotyped vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) particles carrying IBV spike proteins on their surface to be used as a vaccine for emerging variant IBVs. The objective was to determine if a novel vaccine production method could be used to shorten the variant-to-vaccine timeline and be efficacious at protection against the new IBVs. Since VSV is non-replicating and would therefore act like a killed vaccine, the strategy was to vaccinate broiler chickens with GA08 IBV spike pseudotyped particles alone or in combination with a live Mass-type IBV vaccine and then challenge with pathogenic GA08 IBV to assess the level of protection developed from vaccination.

The GA08 pseudotyped VSV (GA08-pVSV) particles were created in the laboratory. Two initial studies using an inoculation dose of 16 or 32 HA units were given to specific pathogen free (SPF) chicks via intraocular/intranasal routes or via intramuscular (IM) injection. The chicks were then bled to measure antibody levels. The chicks given 32 HA units of GA08-pVSV via the IM injection route showed a small antibody response, but production of GA08pVSV at 32 HA units was not continually achievable in the

- worldwide news -

WORLDWIDE NEWS

vaccine candidate non-viable. A complete report, along with information on other Association research, may be obtained through USPOULTRY’s website, www.uspoultry.org.

In the vaccine challenge experiment, multiple groups were included to encompass several vaccine combinations. The GA08-pVSV particles were either given via in-ovo injection, by IM injection at 1 day of age,

by IM injection at 14 days of age, or a combination of these timepoints with or without a live Mass-type IBV vaccine. All vaccinated groups (including the control group) were challenged at 28 days of age and were assessed 5 days post challenge for clinical signs, viral load and antibody development. The group that only received GA08-pVSV had higher clinical sign scores, higher viral loads and no antibodies detected post challenge. There was no statistical difference between any of the other groups, all of which received a live Mass-type IBV vaccine. This indicates that any protection seen in any of the groups was due to the Masstype IBV and not from the GA08pVSV.

Source: U.S. Poultry and Egg Association and U.S. Poultry Foundation

Data showed that the SPF chicks did not immunologically respond to the GA08-pVSV particles. If a higher hemagglutination unit dose of vaccine could have been given, there may have seen a better response.

However, this was not achievable due to the limited scalability in the GA08-pVSV production process in the lab. Furthermore, preliminary studies showed that the best (albeit small) response to these particles came when applied via IM injection with adjuvant. This inoculation route would not be feasible for the broiler industry, for which this vaccine was targeted, also making this

© Petersime 2020 - All rights reserved.

laboratory, so an inoculation dose of 16 HA units and IM route was chosen to proceed with the full vaccine challenge experiment.

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WORLDWIDE NEWS

Slower growing chickens experience higher welfare

©Annie Rayner, FAI Farms

Slower growing broiler chickens are healthier and have more fun than conventional breeds of birds, new evidence from an independent commercial scale farm trial has shown.

The study carried out by researchers from FAI Farms, the University of Bristol and The Norwegian University of Life Sciences, was published in September in Scientific Reports.

This study is the first to highlight the welfare differences between fast and slower growing broilers in a commercial setting utilising a comprehensive suite of positive and negative welfare indictors. The authors conclude that, while there are benefits of providing chickens with more space – by slightly lowering the animal density, changing to a slower growing breed results in much better health and more positive experiences for these birds.

Annie Rayner, FAI's lead researcher, said: “Broilers are motivated to perform a range of positive behaviours.

These positive behaviours create positive experiences, resulting in enjoyment or pleasure. Displaying positive behaviours improves an animal’s quality of life. Our seminal study found slow growing birds to have better health and perform more positive behaviours than conventional fast growing broilers. A shift away from fast-growing breeds would provide the most significant improvement for the lives of the 142 million chickens produced in Europe every week.”

broiler production with several major brands already having signed up - including KFC, Nestlé, M&S and Nando’s.

This study set out to interrogate the commercial welfare implications of two critical aspects of the commitment – a move to slower growing breeds and lowering the stocking density.

The commercial-scale farm trial explored a comprehensive suite of positive and negative welfare indicators in four production systems varying in stocking density and breed. One slower growing breed (the slowest) was stocked at a planned maximum density of 30 kg/m2, a second slower growing breed at planned densities of 30 kg/m2 and 34 kg/m2, and the welfare outcomes were compared to those of a standard fast-growing breed stocked at 34 kg/m2.

At the lower density, the slowest growing breed was found to have slightly better welfare than the other slower growing breed - as indicated by lower mortality, fewer rejections at processing and better walking ability. Differences in welfare of the slower growing breed stocked at two densities were small. However, prominent differences were found between the standard fast-growing birds stocked at 34 kg/m2 and birds in the three other systems.

The standard birds experienced poorer health as indicated by higher levels of mortality, hock burn and pododermatitis as well as greater rejections at processing. Furthermore, the conventional birds showed less perching on enrichment bales as well as fewer positive ‘play’ and ‘exploration’ behaviours.

Dr Siobhan Mullan, Senior Research Fellow in Animal Welfare at the Bristol Vet School, added: “This first independent commercial scale trial provides robust evidence of the health and welfare benefits of slower growing breeds of chicken. We hope that it will help to drive changes in supply chains and large companies to bring about real improvements to chicken welfare.”

Professor Ruth Newberry and Dr Judit Vas at The Norwegian University of Life Sciences Faculty of Biosciences point to the importance of including indicators of positive experiences in animal welfare studies. “Until recently, play was hardly ever mentioned in studies of chickens. We found that, when you walk through a commercial flock, you just have to turn around and look behind you to see chickens frolicking in your footsteps. This was especially the case in the slower growing flocks.”

The NGO-backed European Chicken Commitment (ECC) has attracted widespread attention from commercial

Source: University of Bristol

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- worldwide news -

WORLDWIDE NEWS

Get ready for the 2021 IPPE Marketplace!

The International Production & Processing Expo IPPE - is excited to announce that IPPE Marketplace will take place Jan. 25-29, 2021. IPPE will continue to support the poultry, egg, meat and feed industries through its new, online IPPE Marketplace that will be available during IPPE’s originally scheduled dates, Jan. 25-29, 2021, and beyond. Through the IPPE Marketplace, more than 1,000 exhibitors will be connected with IPPE’s worldwide audience of 30,000-plus invited participants. The participants will be able to search for exhibitors using product categories and keywords and then review the descriptions and links provided by each matching exhibitor. Through digital personal guides, participants will be able to review all exhibitors and select those matching their individual needs.

leadership engagement and student recruitment will also be offered through ‘IPPE’s Linked In With Tomorrow’s Leaders’ program and the USPOULTRY College Student Career Program, where hundreds of students will have an opportunity to interview for jobs and internships within the poultry and egg industry.

The IPPE Marketplace will host live and on-demand, free and paid education programs during the week. These programs will include the International Poultry Scientific Forum, Pet Food Conference, Latin American Poultry Summit, Market Intelligence Forum, International Rendering Symposium, Feed Education Program and more. Young

“While we are disappointed that we will not be hosting an in-person event in 2021, we heard very clearly from our IPPE community of attendees and exhibitors that they still want to connect. More information about the exciting things you can expect during IPPE Marketplace week will be coming soon,” said IPPE show management.

To round out the IPPE Marketplace, on-demand TECHTalks and the opportunity to view innovative products through the Innovation Station / New Product Showcase will be available. Participants will also have access to view the industry trade publications that are typically offered during the Expo through IPPE’s website and the IPPE Marketplace.

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WORLDWIDE NEWS

MPF postpones 2021 dates and plans hybrid event with in-person convention and virtual companion event The Midwest Poultry Federation - MPF - Board of Directors has made the decision to reschedule its 2021 convention from March to May 19-21. The MPF Convention – celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2021 – will be planned as a “hybrid event”, meaning it will have both an in-person show at the Minneapolis Convention Center and a virtual companion event online.

“As a board, we know how important it is to be able to get the poultry industry together in person – and how our attendees and exhibitors miss the face-to-face connections we haven’t been able to have because of the pandemic.

That’s why we all agreed that rescheduling the show to May dates will give us the best chance of doing that in a safe manner,” said MPF President Scott Waldner, who represents the Chicken and Egg Association of Minnesota (CEAM) on the Board.

The in-person MPF Convention will start with pre-show education events and a Welcome Reception on Wednesday, May 19. The Exhibit Hall and education program will run on Thursday and Friday, May 20-21. (Note the slight pattern change to Wednesday-Friday for these 2021 dates only.)

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MPF is planning for every measure for a safe, in-person show experience. This will include following all guidelines for social distancing and mask wearing that are in place in May. “The safety and well-being of our attendees and exhibitors is paramount. We are communicating closely with our partners at the Minneapolis Convention Center, Meet Minneapolis, and our contracted hotels, and continue to follow the most-up-to-date Covid-19 guidance at all governmental levels,” said Waldner. “This includes moving into Exhibit Halls B/C on the street level of the convention center so that we can take advantage of more space to spread out.”

MPF’s virtual companion event will be held during the same show days – May 19-21 – and offer content

- worldwide news -

WORLDWIDE NEWS

directly from the Minneapolis Convention Center as well as education available only online and increased engagement opportunities between exhibitors and attendees.

The virtual event will be housed in the same 3D graphical environment as the 2020 virtual convention in August – with a number of upgrades and improvements to make the online event even better for everyone.

“A hybrid event really provides the best of both worlds, given the uncertainty of Covid-19,” said Waldner. “It’s twice the engagement and twice the networking between exhibitor and attendees – and allows people to participate in MPF in whichever ways work best for them.”

Attendee registration fees will not increase and will cover attending either or both show options – including access to all virtual content through May 31, 2021.

The 3rd annual MPF Unhatched entertainment event has been postponed until 2022. The MPF Welcome Reception will be held May 19 at the Minneapolis Convention

Center and offer time and space to make those important connections with colleagues in a safe and fun manner.

Said Waldner: “If we need to make a decision to cancel the in-person show in May because of health and safety concerns, we will continue to move forward with a 100% virtual event that same week.”

Booth sales and sponsorships for the hybrid event have been opened November 16. Booth rates will not increase and include a presence in both the in-person and virtual trade shows. For more information, please contact Teresa Sorenson at: tsorenson@midwestpoultry. com.

Registration and hotel reservations for the 2021 convention are expected to open in early January. Further updates will be provided on www.MidwestPoultry.com, posted on social media platforms (LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter), and sent via email. For general information and questions, please email to: info@midwestpoultry. com or call 763-284-6763.

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COMPANY NEWS

Oxygen rich air to the birds from day one!

From first day of production the Corona air inlet from DACS creates a perfect air distribution with plenty of temperate, oxygen rich air flowing into the bird zone, thus ensuring a perfect climate for the birds to use their full growth potential. for their new house, commissioned in September 2019 and here is what they have experienced with their new DACS house compared to their other houses.

Easier to operate "The constant flow of preheated air over the chicks from day one is a major advantage of the DACS ventilation system compared to our houses with negative pressure ventilation systems. The new system is just so much easier to operate so we always have a dry and well-ventilated house - no matter the season. One would think we would be adding more heat to get the improved climate in the new stable, but we actually save 70% on the heating cost compared to our other houses", Mark says.

Blow of preheated air

Birds grow to their full potential Depending on ventilation requirements, the Corona air inlet mixes the incoming air with the warm room air accumulated under the ceiling and distributes this preheated air accurately and evenly throughout the house. This constant and gentle flow of air allows the birds to grow to their full potential. On top of this the utilization of the warm room air under the ceiling reduces the heating cost by up to 70% compared to other ventilation systems.

“We know all too well that increased CO2 levels reduce the animal's growth potential. But with the DACS system, thanks to the Corona inlet fans, the constant flow of temperate air in the bird zone lifts the CO2 off the floor and out of the house via the roof mounted exhausts. This contributes to a much better air quality in our new house and we can see that the birds are stronger. The birds really pay back on the much better climate in the DACS house" Jack explains.

Preheated oxygen rich air

Improved technical performance

The Corona air inlet is unique in the industry and is widely accepted as the best tool to ensure dry bedding, animal welfare and bird performance. The reason is the constant and gentle spread of preheated oxygen rich air to every corner of the house.

"We clearly improved the technical performance in our new house. The slaughter quality is better and where the other houses have 1% rejection the new house it is 0.3 to 0.5%. The growth is slightly better and the feed conversion a few points lower in the DACS house. This does not seem like much, but everything adds up and we earn more money from the new house," says Mark.

The brothers Jack and Mark Renders The brothers Jack and Mark Renders in Son & Breugel in The Netherlands produce 185,000 regular broilers in five houses. They chose DACS ventilation and controls

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- company news -

COMPANY NEWS

EggsCargoSystem introduces new pallet GI-OVO is expanding its EggsCargoSystem® with a new pallet.

This concerns the EC Pallet Closed Deck which GI-OVO sees as a logical addition to the existing pallets with an open top deck.

Especially in situations where eggs with a bad shell are transported, this new pallet can be of excellent service.

After all, the closed top deck prevents contamination of the truck and the floors. The EC Pallet Closed Deck can be provided with a so-called logo print on both sides. The pallet can also be placed in racks without having to be provided with steel reinforcement.

For more information: www.gi-ovo.com

Aviagen LLC keeps in touch during Covid-19 with their webinars In a spirit of finding innovative ways to communicate with customers despite Covid-19 restrictions, Aviagen® LLC Russia organizes regular webinars.

To prepare for the series, Technical Service Managers reached out to Arbor Acres® and Ross® producers requesting current hot topics that are relevant for them.

Each webinar is arranged for the staff of a specific customer, and themes for the sessions focus on specific requirements.

To-date 18 webinars with 6 different speakers covered a variety of nutrition, health and management subjects.

Some examples of webinars discussion points include proper nutrition and veterinary care for leg health, achieving good carcass quality, house preparation, hatchery control points and reinforced biosecurity measures under current AI threats in the area. Further events are already in the planning stage to continuously add value to customer operations.

“We are committed to serving our customers in the best possible way,” remarked Nicolas Neyra, Regional Tech-

nical Manager. “While nothing can replace face-to-face collaboration, these webinars and virtual sessions, designed to meet the unique needs of each customer, are one way we can continue to contribute to their success in these unprecedented times.”

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FIELD REPORT

An outbreak of Corynebacterium diphtheriae infection in broiler chickens in Lagos, Nigeria Corynebacteria are gram-positive, catalase-positive, aerobic or facultative anaerobic, generally non motile rods. The genus contains the species Corynebacterium diphtheria and the nondiphtherial corynebacteria, collectively referred to as diphtheroids. Nondiphtherial corynebacteria, originally thought to be mainly contaminants, have increasingly over the past two decades been recognized as pathogenic, especially in immunocompromised hosts.

Examples of widespread and difficult-to-control infections include Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis caseous lymphadenitis in sheep, and goats; C. pseudotuberculosis ulcerative dermatitis in cattle; and urinary tract infections and mastitis in cattle due to infection with Corynebacterium renale, C. cystidis, C. pilosum and C. bovis.

Introduction

L.U. Enurah, T. Olubade, A.C. Nwamo, R.T. Sadiku National Veterinary Research Institute Laboratory, Nigeria

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Today, the more common scenario is nondiphtherial corynebacterial bacteremia associated with diverse infections as well as meningitis, septic arthritis and urinary tract infections. Nondiphtherial corynebacteria also cause chronic and subclinical diseases in domestic animals and can lead to significant economic losses for farmers.

- field report -

C. diphtheria infection is typically characterized by a local inflammation, usually in the upper respiratory tract, associated with toxin-mediated cardiac and neural disease.

Three strains of C. diphtheria are recognized in decreasing order of virulence: gravis, intermedius and mitis. These strains produce an identical toxin, but gravis strain is potentially more virulent because it grows faster and depletes the local iron supply, allowing for earlier and greater toxin production. Toxin production is encoded on the tox gene, which in turn, is carried on a lysogenic beta phage. When DNA of the phage integrates into the host bacteria’s genetic material, the bacteria develop the capacity to produce this polypeptide toxin. The tox gene is regulated by a corynebacterial iron-binding repressor (DtxR). Binding of ferrous iron to the DtxR molecule forms a complex that binds to the tox gene operator and inhibits transcription. Depletion of iron from the system removes the repression and allows the toxin to be produced.

FIELD REPORT

The toxin is a single polypeptide with an active (A) domain, a binding (B) domain and a hydrophobic segment known as the T domain, which helps release the active part of the polypeptide into the cytoplasm. In the cytosol, the A domain catalyzes the transfer of an adenosine diphosphate-ribose molecule to one of the elongation factors (eg elongation factor 2 EF2) responsible for protein synthesis. This transfer inactivates the factor, thereby inhibiting cellular protein synthesis. Inhibiting all the protein synthesis in the cell causes cell death. In this manner, the toxin is responsible for many of the clinical manifestations of the disease. As little as 0.1μg can cause death in guinea pigs.

In 1890, von Behring and Kitasato demonstrated that sublethal doses of the toxin induced neutralizating antibodies against the toxin in horses. In turn, this antiserum passively protected the animals against death following infection.

By the early 1900s, treating the toxin with heat and formalin was discovered to render it nontoxic. When injected into recipients, the treated toxin induced neutralizing

a urs on o y s & you day Sea h s li wi We erful Ho d Won

antibodies. By the 1930s, many Western countries began immunization programs using this toxoid. The disease occurs mainly in temperate zones and is endemic in certain regions of the world. Humans are the known reservoir for the disease. The primary modes of dissemination are by airborne respiratory droplets, direct contact with droplets or infected skin lesions.

Asymptomatic respiratory carrier states are believed to be important in perpetuating both endemic and epidemic disease. The toxin induced manifestations involve mainly the heart, kidneys and peripheral nerves. Cardiac enlargement due to myocarditis is common. The kidneys become edematous and develop interstitial changes.

Both the motor and sensory fibers of the peripheral nerves demonstrate fatty degenerative changes and disintegration of the medullary sheaths. The anterior horn cells and posterior columns of the spinal canal can be involved and the CNS may develop signs of haemorrhage, meningitis and encephalitis. Death is mainly due to respiratory obstruction by the membrane or toxic effects in the heart or nervous system.

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FIELD REPORT

The epidemiology of C. diphtheria infection has been changing. Increasing number of skin, pharyngeal and bacteremic infections with nontoxigenic bacteria have been reported. Among 828 cultures of nontoxigenic C. diphtheriae isolated from different regions of Russia from 1994-2002, 14% carried the gene for the toxin. Molecular characterizations based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of some of these nontoxigenic strains have demonstrated that the bacteria often contain functional DtxR proteins, which could potentially produce toxin. No documented reports of an outbreak of Corynebacterium diphtheria infection in chicken in Nigeria have so far been made. This study describes a peculiar case of an outbreak of C. diphtheria infection in a private poultry farm in Lagos, Nigeria.

Materials and Methods a) Collection of samples The outbreak involved 1,200, 15-week-old white leghorn broiler chickens kept in battery cages. Out of this number 163 died without any premonitory signs. As a result they did not receive any veterinary attention. At post mortem samples of the heart blood, liver, lung, and intestine were aseptically collected for possible isolation of the causative agents. b) Processing of samples Samples of intestine, lung, liver and heart blood were aseptically placed in sterile universal bottles containing 9 ml of nutrient broth and were subsequently incubated for 24h at 37 °C. After 24h incubation, the broth was plated using sterile wire loop on Tinsdale selective medium (containing Tinsdale selective agar base and Tinsdale supplement) (Oxoid, UK) and incubated at 37 °C for 24h.

The resultant colonies were characterized by Gram stain and biochemical tests. c) Pathogenicity test Colonies from Tinsdale medium were inoculated into nutrient broth and incubated for 24h at 37 °C to obtain pure culture. This was used to challenge eight 15 week old white leghorn at 0.5ml each orally while two served as control. They were kept in separate cages, fed and given clean water and were observed daily for 14days.

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Result and discussion The original carcasses had lesions suggestive of acute gastroenteritis, pneumonia and septicemia. The postmortem picture was characterized by haemorrhagic inflammation and oedema of the gastro-intestinal tract, fibrinous pneumonia and petechial haemorrhages of the myocardium. Pure culture of Corynebacterium diphtheria was isolated from the heart blood, intestine, liver and lung.

Positive Corynebacterium diphtheriae identification was based on the presence of gram-positive pleomorphic rods with deeply metachromatic granules in smears. On Tinsdale medium grayish black colonies were obtained. The results were interpreted according to Barrow and Feltham (1995).

The isolate proved lethal for chicken killing all the inoculated eight birds: 6 in 11days and the rest in 13 days. Necropsy findings in the infected chickens were the same as the naturally infected chickens but in addition, the epithelial wall of the proventriculus was swollen with necrotic foci and heavily infiltrated with purulent exudate. The causal agent was re-isolated from all the infected chickens. The isolation of Corynebacterium diphtheria, a primary pathogen of human diphtheria infection from chicken is interesting as there appears to be no previous records of its incidence among chickens as far as the authors knew. The virtually wide host range makes Corynebacterium diphtheria infection a zoonotic disease of both veterinary and public health importance. It is likely that many more cases might be occurring in chickens and other species than are reported. It is advisable to ensure individual sanitation of farm attendants as they could be the major source of infection, and a general sanitation of the farm. There should be culling of infected birds to limit the spread of infection to the healthy ones. The use of broad spectrum antibiotics in poultry feeds may be an effective prophylactic measures against Corynebacterium diphtheriae infection.

Acknowledgement: The authors are grateful to the Executive Director, National Veterinary Research Institute, Vom Plateau State, Nigeria for permission to publish this paper.

First published in Global Journal of Medical Research: G, Veterinary Science and Veterinary Medicine, Volume 16 Issue 1 Version 1.0 Year 2016

- field report -

References are available on request

Image: Fotolia - © Minerva Studio

FIELD REPORT

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INTERVIEW

Giordano Poultry Plast keeps growing Giordano Poultry Plast, a leading international company in the moulding of plastic materials, specialised in the design and production of poultry industry equipment, is based in Caraglio (CN), Italy, with productions scattered around in Mexico, Argentina, Egypt and Malaysia. The Giordano family has full control of the group made up also by other companies operating in different sectors, with Osvaldo Giordano, Chairman, and his sons Oscar and Enrico, Chief Executive Officers. the last few months on account of the pandemic.

How did Giordano Poultry Plast organise itself during the Covid-19 period, in terms of both its internal organisation and its relationship with the outside world?

As regards the internal organisation, we obviously had to apply the measures laid down by the State, sometimes even at the last minute: I cannot deny that it has been tough, but we have succeeded in organising ourselves well.

Precisely under these circumstances, in fact, we implemented procedures that, though ultimately envisaged, would have perhaps been applied within a few years, accelerated by the contingent situation. We have invested time and money: temperature scanners have been set up at the entrance, with separate entrances and exits, and several improvements have been introduced.

Osvaldo Giordano, Chairman, with his sons Oscar and Enrico, Chief Executive Officers

Giordano Poultry Plast is an international company that exports 95% of Italian production and carries out its business in over 65 countries. For this reason, too, we spoke with Oscar Giordano, Chief Executive Officer of Giordano Poultry Plast, to discuss how the situation of companies operating in the poultry sector has unfolded itself over

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- interview -

Several of our employees have been engaged in smart working since last spring and will keep on doing so. We have a fixed attendance calendar at the company, to ensure a constant alternation of personnel manning the office at all times, and enable production to operate regularly. The staff at the company premises has been retained in full. Despite the lockdown, we have not stood still even a single day: our Ateco (characteristic activity) code allowed us not to stop production, and notwithstanding

INTERVIEW

some dip in sales at the start, we have bounced back excellently during the summer months.

Meanwhile we have implemented some investments as well. Part of the machines have been replaced and others added; we have become even more automated. To give you a figure, to date, in 2020, we have made investments for approximately EUR 950,000. In the last two years, no profits have been redistributed, as they have been invested entirely in the company, enabling us at present to make use of a pretty new and technological pool of machines, one that will allow us – once normality is restored – to cater more effectively for any need.

At the end of October 2020, our turnover is hovering around the same value as the corresponding one from last year, and we think we are going to end this year on a sum close to EUR 26 million. In January-February, we were proceeding at a level of 15% above the same months of the previous year, and then, after the important drop of March/April (up to a 50% dip in turnover), we have rebounded in the following months.

Another aspect we have focused upon during the most acute phases of the pandemic was the reorganisation of company communication: we created monthly news, sending around 14,000 emails every month, and done the restyling of websites, and we are refurbishing the digital catalogues. In just one and a half months, we have revolutionised our communication on social networks in order to implement a weekly rather than monthly plan, meeting our customers online. With our salesforce, too, we arrange virtual meetings every fortnight or monthly, which we find extremely useful in a period in which physical movements are so drastically reduced.

Have you also thought of proposing new products to the market during this period?

We have not developed any completely new product, but we have improved some, like the perches for ducks, creating a novel grid, which, although it might have already been planned, we had previously found no time to implement. The product has also been launched on the market, with all the problems entailed by launching a product through the Internet, without a fair. We have likewise improved the turkey feeder and the ECS, our integrated egg handling system. Essentially, Giordano Poultry Plast has introduced 2.0 products, so to speak: improving those already available on the production line, striving to the attainment of excellence.

EggsCargoSystem®

This tragic period of pandemic forced us also to reconsider the role of international fairs. What is your position in this regard?

For the first 6 months of next year, Giordano Poultry Plast is not planning any fairs or conferences and will not invest in them. Right now, travelling is too complicated: quarantine periods are required going and coming back, swabs must be performed, and above all, the customers themselves do not desire to receive visits or move around.

Covid-19 has completely transformed the trade fair scenario: we have switched from a period in which fairs were being held incessantly, up to twice a month as well, to none at all at present.

In my view, in 2021 we should restart with 3 or 4 global fairs, truly specific, bypassing local or scarcely attended ones. After all, we were previously travelling for the slightest issues as well, which, as we later found, could be adequately managed by video call. Rather than saying “because of Covid”, we could say “thanks to Covid” we realised that we can do a lot even from our own desk, reducing costs and investing these savings in other activities, perhaps more useful than flying a lot across the world. In future, we will lend preference to the quality of physical encounters, managing the rest of relationships digitally, thereby also increasing the workers’ quality of life. The results will remain the same, but we will move around only for truly important occasions.

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What role for poultry meat in the EU’s Farm to Fork strategy?

Poultry is the most consumed meat in the world. The meat sector has come under intense scrutiny during the Coronavirus crisis and has been a bone of contention throughout ongoing debates concerning the sustainability of the EU agricultural sector. The recently released EU’s Farm to Fork (F2F) strategy softened its stance on meat compared to previous draft versions, but offered staunch support for alternative proteins and said it would work to encourage people to consume “less meat.” The strategy also laid out a commitment to “help reduce the environmental and climate impact of animal production”. the production of poultry meat compared to other meats and alternative meat proteins? Is the animal health and welfare of EU poultry adhering to the highest possible standards? What practices have lower impact on the environment and consumers’ health? How can science and critical innovation ensure that European poultry meat remains safe, affordable and nutritious? How can the European meat poultry sector produce more from less? How will Farm to Fork standards affect imports from 3rd countries?

During the debate, it emerged that the EU Poultry sector is demonstrating its readiness to be part of the solution when it comes to the EU Farm to Fork strategy.

All the experts recognized the crucial importance of а large scale cooperation to create а sustainable food system in the EU. “From an EU Commission point of view we would like consumers to move to healthier consumption patterns, which means more plant-based diets,” said Sabine Juelicher.

At a recent Euractiv Virtual Conference the role of poultry in the future “Farm to Fork” strategy was discussed.

Panel members Sabine Juelicher, Director, Food and feed safety, innovation, DG SANTE, European Commission; Frederic Leroy, Professor, Industrial Microbiology and Food Biotechnology, Vrije Universiteit Brussels; Jonty Whittleton, Global Head of Campaign Farming, World Animal Protection and Birthe Steenberg, Secretary General, AVEC Poultry meat, gave their responses to the main questions that are troubling the sector: How sustainable is

18

This was challenged by Frederic Leroy, who stated that: “Animal foods, and therefore also poultry, have а role to play as valuable elements within the larger set of dietary solutions”. Jonty Whittleton pointed out that his organization is really encouraged that food companies are starting to recognize the needs of chickens, as well as the growing consumer demand for more humane and sustainable food options.

Another key point of the discussions was labelling. Birthe Steenberg affirmed that: “Consumers deserve to know if the poultry meat in their Caesar Salad or Club Sandwich is produced under strict EU rules. Therefore, we need labelling with EU/Non-EU for all the products which contain

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poultry across all parts of the food chain including restaurants, canteens, and processed products.”

European poultry meat is part of the solution In the EU meat is produced in an efficient and smart way as the emissions per million tons of animal protein produced are much lower here than in other parts of the world. Thanks to innovation and increase in production efficiency, the agricultural sector in Europe has been successful in reducing harmful emissions levels over the past decades. In fact, livestock production represents less than 6% of the total EU emissions, while other sectors outside agriculture contribute а lot more. Poultry meat is an important source of protein and an essential part of а balanced diet and is therefore complying with the objective of the Farm to Fork strategy - namely to guarantee access to sufficient, nutritious and sustainable food.

In а continent where food insecurity remains an issue, with over 36 million EU citizens who cannot afford а quality meal every second day, the affordability of poultry meat is аn important factor. The EU consumers should therefore continue to have access to poultry meat produced under the high EU standards at a reasonable price.

FlexBelt® conveyor belt Flexible rods preserve egg quality during transport

А promotion campaign to inform consumers about EU poultry production Five national poultry organizations (France, Germany, Italy, Poland and the Netherlands) and their European umbrella association, AVEC, launched а two-year campaign supported by the European Commission. The main objective is to inform EU consumers and professionals about the standards of the EU poultry production and the sectors ongoing commitment on matters such as sustainability, environment and animal welfare matters. The campaign “This is European poultry! High-Quality poultry with European guarantee” aims to inform consumers about animal welfare, sustainability, food safety and the nutritional benefits of EU poultry meat and to assure consumers that they саn enjoy affordable, high-quality and delicious European poultry meat.

Suitable in any space

Unlimited extensions

Easy cleaning due to open construction

Check www.jpe.org for more information

The essentials of European poultry meat Poultry is an important part of the European diet. In the past ten years, EU consumption has increased by 23% to

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This is European Poultry!

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT IT?

ENVIRONMENT EMISSION LEVEL POULTRY MEAT IS CLIMATE SMART

C02

C02

35

295

55

KG CO2 - EQ.KG PROTEIN-1

KG CO2 - EQ.KG PROTEIN-1

C02

KG CO2 - EQ.KG PROTEIN-1

IMPROVEMENT IN THE LAST 15 YEARS 2003 - 2018 / 2,5KG CHICKEN

-16%

-37%

-15% -0,5kg

ENERGY

GREENHOUSE GAS

-1L

LAND USED

ECONOMY 370 000

FEED

WATER

FAMILY POULTRY FARMS IN THE EU

VALUE OF POULTRY MEAT PRODUCTION IN EU

health SAME AMOUNT OF PROTEINS (28 G)

ANTIBIOTICS STRONG REDUCTIONS IN MANY MEMBER STATES

133 G CHICKEN BREAST

140

359 G TOFU

188 G HAZELNUTS

1120

KCAL

275

KCAL

KCAL

society POULTRY MEAT INTAKE KG/PER PERSON/2019

25

49

Highest standards

10

ANIMAL WELFARE

33 34

5

EU authorities and the industry stakeholders are working hand in hand to ensure uniformly high standards across the production chain. No matter from which EU country the poultry meat comes from, consumers can always be confident that they are buying safe, high-quality poultry meat produced to high European standards.

European poultry as a global leader

25 000

PEOPLE WORKING IN RURAL AREAS

currently 25.3 kg per capita per year with experts predicting a further slight increase over the next decade. Worldwide demand for this affordable source of protein continues to grow and Europe enjoys a good reputation as a supplier among potential customers. The European poultry sector is well-prepared, both for the growing demand and for the high requirements regarding food safety, animal welfare and environmental protection.

HIGHEST LEVEL of FOOD SAFETY thanks to the FARM TO FORK PRINCIPLE

Challenges WHERE DOES YOUR POULTRY MEAT COME FROM?

The European poultry sector plays a relevant role on the global level. With a production volume of 15.8 million tons carcass weight in 2019, the EU is the third-largest poultry meat producer in the world after the USA and China. The vast majority of EU production is consumed in the European Union itself. Around 1.7 million tons of EU poultry production is exported mainly to Southeast Asia, other non-EU European countries, and Africa. Chicken meat accounts for the largest share (82%) of EU poultry production, with 13 million tons, followed by turkey meat (2.1 million tons = 13%) and duck meat (550,000 tons = 3.5%).

Domestically, the EU poultry sector plays an important role not only in its function as a meat supplier, but also as an economic factor. More than 370,000 people work directly in breeding, growing, fattening, slaughtering, and processing; most of them in one or other of the 25,000 family farms located mostly in rural areas. In addition, there are many indirect jobs, for example in the animal feed sector, in packaging, and in the machinery industry that produces the equipment used in slaughterhouses. It is estimated that EU poultry meat production has an economic value of 38 billion euros.

SOLUTION

25% IMPORT BREAST MEAT IS COMING FROM THIRD COUNTRIES UKRAINE, THAILAND & BRAZIL

FOODSERVICE

MAINLY SOLD IN

EX. RESTAURANTS, SCHOOL CANTEENS

WE NEED

G

LABELLIN

PROCESSED FOOD IN SUPERMARKETS EX. NUGGETS, SAUSAGE, ...

OF ORIGIN OR

The EU poultry industry sets global standards In recent years, consumers have been paying increasing attention to how their food is produced. A growing focus is on animal welfare and sustainable production. The European poultry meat sector feels well prepared to meet these

Produced with Care - European Farmers prioritise Animal Health and Welfare.

100% European Poultry - Food Safety and Sustainability from Farm to Fork.

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expectations. The sector is proud to produce according to the very strict EU rules that apply throughout the entire production chain – “From Farm to Fork” (and even earlier in the chain); it is committed to continuously improving production conditions in terms of resource conservation and animal welfare. A lot has been achieved in this respect with the current standards that apply to EU poultry meat being amongst the highest in the world.

Animal welfare: is a top priority in the EU. Scientifically based standards guarantee that poultry farming meets the same minimum requirements in all Member States.

As broiler farming accounts for almost 87% of European production, there is particularly detailed legislation in this area. Additionally, individual countries have the option of adopting more stringent provisions.

In the EU poultry produced for consumption is reared in flocks in floor systems. This allows the birds to move freely and perform their natural behavior. Maximum stocking densities for chickens have been set. The birds always have access to fresh drinking water and feed. The floor is covered with natural bedding, and the lighting provides

a natural day-night rhythm. For the growers the welfare of their animals is the first priority. Responsible care, indepth knowledge, and longstanding experience are the most decisive guarantors of animal welfare. Farmers inspect their flocks at least twice a day and document all the relevant parameters.

Animal health and hygiene: strict regulations also apply to barn hygiene. All barns are thoroughly cleaned and disinfected every time a flock is sent to the slaughterhouse, so the surroundings are optimal when a new flock of dayold chickens arrive. EU regulations on animal health are strict and stipulate that the animals must receive feed appropriate to their species and age. Correct feeding is important in the interests of the consumer, as it has a considerable influence on the quality of the meat produced.

Ingredients such as wheat, maize and soya make up the majority of the feed. In addition, a number of additives like vitamins and minerals are approved as these improve the quality of the feed.

Transport: the birds must be completely healthy before they are transported and there are strict regulations in

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place regarding space provided and transport times that must be observed. As a rule, birds must not be on the road for longer than 12 hours.

Slaughtering: strict hygiene regulations apply to the entire poultry chain, up to slaughtering. Every room and all equipment must meet high standards. Companies must apply HACCP-based procedures. Compliance with animal welfare and hygiene requirements is monitored by official veterinarians who carry out numerous checks before and after slaughter. Before slaughter, all animals are stunned in a way to avoid pain, suffering, stress or agitation. Official veterinarians and their assistants are present in the slaughterhouse throughout the day to supervise all the operations.

Environmentally friendly Poultry meat has a very good environmental scorecard compared to many other foods. One reason is the optimal feed conversion, which is associated with lower emissions. 1.5 kg of feed can produce 1 kg of chicken and 2.6 kg of feed can produce 1 kg of turkey. Furthermore, the area of land required to produce one kg of chicken meat is only eight square meters. EU poultry producers are also continuously developing additional measures to minimize energy consumption in their barns. Computer-assisted control technologies support them in this quest. Many farms generate their own energy, e.g. with photovoltaic or biogas systems. When compared to other foods, the carbon footprint of poultry meat is very low.

Only 4.22 kg of CO2 are produced per kg of conventional poultry meat. Poultry meat is also ahead of other types of meat in terms of water consumption. And EU poultry producers always try to use the precious resource of water even more efficiently. It is not without reason that the impact on the environment has decreased over the past 15 years on several factors, such as land used, energy, water, feed and greenhouse gas.

European chickens and turkeys are raised in barns In the whole of the EU, barn farming is the only form of housing used for poultry meat production. The birds can scratch, peck and move about on the floor according to their natural needs. In chicken barns an optimal environment is ensured for the birds in terms of light, humidity and other parameters. In organic and open-air farming,

22

the birds additionally have fenced-in green outdoor areas where they can move about freely. There is always enough drinking water for chickens, turkeys, as well as appropriate feed. The use of hormones and growth enhancers in breeding has been banned throughout the EU. To optimize the rearing process, producers use a much more effective and at the same time animal-friendly method, i.e. rearing robust and healthy poultry breeds. Combining healthy stock with balanced feed and optimal environmental conditions enables breeders to produce high-quality meat at affordable prices.

Antibiotics may only be administered by veterinary prescription, and according to the principle ‘as little as possible, as much as necessary’. A responsible use of antibiotics is needed to treat sick animals so that their well-being is not compromised. In recent years, the use of antibiotics in the poultry sector has been drastically reduced by numerous measures across the entire breeding chain such as improved bio-safety, selection of robust breeds, optimized feed and barn management. After any treatment, birds can only be slaughtered after a legally prescribed period called the withdrawal period. This is to ensure that the meat no longer contains any traces of medication.

The strong voice of the poultry industry – the European umbrella organization AVEC At European level, the Brussels-based umbrella organization AVEC (European Association of Poultry Processors and Poultry Trade), firmly brings together the threads of all the national member organizations. It represents around 95% of poultry meat producers in the EU and is in constant contact with all relevant EU and international organizations and decision-makers. AVEC shares an office in Brussels with the European Live Poultry and Hatching Egg Association (ELPHA) as well as the European Poultry Breeders (EPB) grouping.

AVEC is a part of The European Livestock Voice, a multi-stakeholder group of 11 like-minded partners in the livestock food chain, who represent sectors ranging from animal health to feed, breeding and farming. They aim to inform the public about the societal value of livestock production and its contribution to global challenges, offering an alternative narrative to current debates.

Source: AVEC - European Association of Poultry Processors and Poultry Trade, https://eu-poultry.eu/

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Regional concentration in global poultry meat production An overview at continent level

This overview will list the leading countries in each continent and document their share in the poultry meat production volume of the continent as well as at the global level. In a first paper, this method was used in the analysis of the spatial pattern of global egg production (Zootecnica International, November 2020).

65 60 55 50 45

[mill. t]

40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 2008 Oceania

2009

2010 Africa

2011

2012

2013

Europe

2014

2015 Asia

2016

2017

2018

The Americas

Figure 1 – The development of poultry meat production at continent level between 2008 and 2018 (source: FAO database).

Between 2008 and 2018, global poultry meat production increased from 92.7 mill. t to 127.3 mill. t or by 37.4%. Parallel to this remarkable growth, the regional concentration also grew considerably (Figure 1).

Hans-Wilhelm Windhorst

Two countries dominated poultry meat production in the Americas

The author is scientific director of the WING at the Hannover Veterinary University and Prof. emeritus of the University of Vechta, Germany

In 2018, countries of the American double continent contributed 40.9% to global poultry meat production. The regional concentration in the Americas was very high, as can be seen from the data in Table 1.

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The ten leading countries shared 95.8% in the production volume of all American countries, the two leading countries, USA and Brazil, 72.6%. The gap between these two countries and the following five ranks was quite wide, as they together contributed only 19.5% to the continent’s production volume. Because of the high production volume in the USA and Brazil, the ten leading countries shared 40.9% in global poultry meat production in 2018. Without these two countries, it would only be 11.2%. This documents the extraordinary role of the USA and Brazil at a global scale.

Without China, production in Asia was distributed more evenly The countries of Asia contributed 36.5% to the global poultry meat production in 2018.

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Without China, it would be only 21.3%. The regional concentration was very high. The ten leading countries shared 84.4% in the continent’s production volume; China alone 41.7%, followed by India with 7.8%. Almost half of the Asian production volume was concentrated in these two countries. The share of the other listed countries differed between 5.6% (Indonesia) and 3.0% (Pakistan).

In Europe, Russia dominated poultry meat production

A comparison of the data in Tables 1 and 2 shows that the USA and China shared almost the same percentage in the poultry meat production of the respective continents. In contrast to Brazil, there was no country with a similar contribution to the production in Asia.

Table 3 – The ten leading poultry meat-producing countries in Europe in 2018 (source: FAO database).

Table 1 – The ten leading poultry meat-producing countries in the Americas in 2018 (source: FAO database).

Share (%)

Production (1,000 t)

The Americas

World

USA

22,298.2

42.8

17.5

Brazil

15,497.6

29.8

12.2

Mexico

3,376.7

6.5

2.7

Argentina

2,114.9

4.1

1.7

Colombia

1,592.8

3.1

1.3

Peru

1,581.1

3.0

1.2

Canada

1,474.3

2.8

1.2

Chile

762.3

1.5

0.6

Venezuela

665.2

1.3

0.5

Bolivia

483.9

0.9

0.4

10 countries

49,847.0

95.8

*39.2

The Americas

52,042.4

100.0

40.9

Country

* sum does not add because of rounding Table 2 – The ten leading poultry meat-producing countries in Asia in 2018 (source: FAO database).

Share (%)

Production (1,000 t)

Asia

World

China

19,394.9

41.7

15.2

India

3,616.4

7.8

2.8

Indonesia

2,588.2

5.6

2.0

Japan

2,250.4

4.8

1.8

Turkey

2,229.1

4.8

1.8

Iran

2,199.0

4.7

1.7

Myanmar

1,896.4

4.1

1.5

Malaysia

1,873.0

4.0

1.5

Thailand

1,779.8

3.8

1.4

Pakistan

1,396.1

3.0

1.1

10 countries

39,223.3

*84.4

30.8

Asia

46,483.4

100.0

36.5

Country

* sum does not add because of rounding

In Europe, poultry meat production grew from 14.3 mill. t in 2008 to 21.2 mill. t in 2018 or by 47.9% (Table 3). To the remarkable increase of 6.9 mill. t, Russia contributed 1.5 mill. t or 21.7%.

Share (%)

Production (1,000 t)

Europe

World

Russia

4,543.0

21.4

3.6

Un. Kingdom

1,939.1

9.2

1.5

France

1,786.1

8.4

1.4

Poland

1,711.2

8.1

1.3

Country

Spain

1,621.7

7.7

1.3

Germany

1,570.6

7.4

1.2 1.0

Ukraine

1,286.8

6.1

Italy

1,273.2

6.0

1.0

Netherlands

1,074.4

5.1

0.8

524.5

2.5

0.4

10 countries

17,330.6

*81.8

*13.6

Europe

21,191.3

100.0

16.6

Hungary

* sum does not add because of rounding

The fast growth resulted in an unchallenged first rank with a share of 21.4% in the continent’s production volume. The contribution of the following eight countries differed between 1 mill. t (Netherlands) and almost 2 mill. t (United Kingdom). High absolute growth rates were also to be found in Poland (846,000 t), Spain (515,000 t) and the United Kingdom (510,000 t). In contrast, poultry meat production stagnated in France. These four countries contributed almost exactly on third to the continent’s production. With 81.8%, the regional concentration in Europe was almost as high as that in Asia.

European countries contributed one sixth to the global poultry meat production, the ten leading countries 13.6%, without Russia it would be 10.0%. The pattern in Europe resembles that in Asia with one dominating country in first rank and several countries with similar production volumes.

High regional concentration in Africa Between 2008 and 2018, poultry meat production in Africa grew from 4.3 mill. t to 6.1 mill. t or by 43.0%. To the

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increase of 1.8 mill. t, South Africa contributed 428,000 t and Egypt 461,000 t. These two countries ranked as number one and two among the ten leading poultry meat-producing countries. Together with Morocco, ranked as number three, they shared 61.4% in the continent’s production volume (Table 4). This was the highest concentration in the three leading countries behind Oceania and the Americas. The data impressively documents that poultry meat production was concentrated in the countries of Northern Africa and in South Africa. Together the six countries, as listed in Table 4, contributed 71.9% to the continent’s production volume.

With only 4.0%, Africa’s share in global poultry meat production was very low. Considering that 17.2% of the global population lived in this continent in 2018, the situation was very imbalanced. In contrast, 13.1% of the world population lived in the Americas, which contributed 40.9% to the global production volume.

Table 4 – The ten leading poultry meat-producing countries in Africa in 2018 (source: FAO database).

Share (%)

Production (1,000 t)

Africa

South Africa

1,761.7

29.0

1.4

Egypt

1,199.8

19.7

0.9

Morocco

775.0

12.7

0.6

Algeria

294.7

4.8

0.2

Tunisia

216.7

3.6

0.2

Nigeria

192.7

3.2

0.2

Malawi

190.6

3.1

0.1

Libya

128.8

2.1

0.1

Tanzania

102.3

1.7

0.1

Mozambique

88.8

1.5

< 0.1

10 countries

4,951.1

81.4

3.9

Country

Africa

6,081.2

100.0

World

Country

Production (1,000 t)

Australia

Share (%) Oceania

World

1,235.2

81.6

1.0

New Zealand

231.6

15.3

0.2

Fiji

35.9

2.4

< 0.1

Papua N. G.

6.6

0.4

< 0.1

Vanuatu

1.2

0.1

<0.1

5 countries

1,510.5

*99.7

1.2

Oceania

1,514.6

100.0

1.2

* sum does not add because of rounding

tributed 391,000 t or 78.2%. This documents the dominating role of the country in the poultry meat industry of Oceania.

Summary and perspectives The preceding analysis could show that the regional concentration of poultry meat production was high in all continents, with the highest values in the Oceania and the Americas. Above that, in all continents, production was even more concentrated in only a few countries.

Table 6 lists the ten leading poultry meat-producing countries in 2018.

Table 6 – The ten leading poultry meat-producing countries in 2018 (source: FAO database).

4.0

The regional concentration was highest in Oceania With a production volume of 1.5 mill. t, Oceania shared 1.2% in global poultry meat production. Table 5 reveals that 96.9% of the production was concentrated in the two leading countries, 81.6% in Australia alone.

This was the highest regional concentration of all continents. Between 2008 and 2018, the production volume of Oceania grew from 1.0 mill. t to 1.5 mill t, a very dynamical development. To the absolute growth, Australia con-

26

Table 5 – The five leading poultry meat-producing countries in Oceania in 2018 (source: FAO database).

Production (1,000 t)

Country

Continent

USA

The Americas

22,298.2

17.5

China

Asia

19,394.9

15.2

Brazil

The Americas

15,497.6

12.2

Russia

Europe

4,543.0

3.6

India

Asia

3,616.4

2.8

Mexico

The Americas

3,376.7

2.7

Indonesia

Asia

2,588.2

2.0

Japan

Asia

2,250.4

1.8

Turkey

Asia

2,229.1

1.8

Iran

Asia

2.199.0

1.7

10 countries

77,993.5

61.3

World

127,313.1

100.0

Share (%)

They shared 61.3% in the global production volume, the top three countries 44.9%. Six of the countries are located in Asia, three in the Americas and one in Europe. The

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lists reflects the remarkable concentration in the production of this commodity. Of the 127.3 mill. t of poultry meat which were produced in 2018, 89.8% were chicken meat, mainly broiler meat, 4.6% turkey meat, 3.5% duck meat and 2.1% goose and guineas fowl meat.

The high regional concentration in global poultry meat production is also reflected in a list of the ten leading broiler producers (Table 7). It is worth noting that no European company was listed among the top ten. LDC (France) ranked as number 13 with an annual slaughter of 541.2 mill. head, followed by Plukon (Netherlands) with 426.4 mill. head.

“The success story of poultry meat, especially broiler meat, will go on. No religious barriers, an excellent feed conversion rate, the strong position in the leading fast food chains and the broad variety of meals based on poultry meat will be the main steering factors”

Table 7 – The ten leading broiler producers in 2019 (source: WATTAgNet October 2019).

Mill. head slaughtered per year

Company

Country

JBS S.A.

Brazil

3,500.0

Tyson Foods, Inc.

USA

2,029.7

Pilgrim’s Pride Corp.

USA

1,804.9

BRF

Brazil

1,628.0

New Hope Liuhe

China

1,300.0

Industrias Bachoca

Mexico

781.6

Wen’s Food Group

China

807.0

CP Group

Thailand

685.0

Perdue Farms

USA

682.2

Koch Foods, Inc.

USA

624.0

Total

on poultry meat will be the main steering factors. What impact plant-based meat alternatives and cell-cultured meat will have over the next ten years is difficult to project. Plant-based alternatives will become more important, especially among younger consumers, and may reach a share between 10% and 15% in 2030. Cell-cultured meat will even in five to ten years play only a minor role, considering the unsolved problems, which the new technology is still facing.

13,842.4

The success story of poultry meat, especially broiler meat, will go on. No religious barriers, an excellent feed conversion rate, the strong position in the leading fast food chains and the broad variety of meals based

Database FAO database: http://www.fao.org/faostat Top world broiler companies: www.WATTAgNet.com (October 2019)

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- december 2020 -

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TECHNICAL COLUMN

Problem solving: drinking water challenges The single most important nutrient provided to birds is water.

Optimizing quantity and quality is essential for achieving desired performance from food animals whether they are raised organic, antibiotic free or under traditional production practices. Identifying weak points in either quality or quantity is the starting point for a good water program and solving production challenges.

Susan Watkins, PhD Center of Excellence for Poultry Science University of Arkansas Systems Division of Agriculture

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What is the water supply?

Identify and inspect the source. Has there been any changes to the source such as maintenance on a well pump, flooding near a well-head or loss of pressure that could cause back siphoning which can pull pathogens into the water supply. Giving the water source a critical evaluation can be the crucial starting point to finding an issue.

- technical column -

TECHNICAL COLUMN

Test the water Minerals Test the water at the source for pH, iron, manganese, calcium, magnesium, nitrates, sulfates, sodium and chloride. When possible include heavy metals such as arsenic, copper, cadmium and lead. While getting total dissolved solids or hardness is a starting point, it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t give adequate information so that an action plan can be developed if necessary. To fix high levels of sodium will require a different solution than eliminating iron or calcium from a supply and knowing specific amounts of each problems are more easily identified. The only time it is necessary to check mineral content beyond the source is if there is a concern that water treatment is not working properly. Rarely does the quality change dramatically without some type of treatment failure such as acid injectors or water softeners.

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Bacteria Test the source and water in the production barn for total bacteria as well as E. coli and coliform. If antibiotics or organic acids have been used in the water system, then include a yeast and mold analysis. Microbial levels can change dramatically from source to the actual drinkers so testing the water throughout the process helps identify where loss of quality is occurring. This is beneficial for focusing a cleaning and sanitation program where it is needed most. When working with operations plagued by health challenges, consider opening a water regulator and swabbing the diaphragm or a the filter in a filter housing. If the water system is a source of disease challenges, these are the most likely places to find the issue.

Inspect the water system on the farm Drinkers and regulators-how old is the equipment?

Has the drinker system been subjected to treatments such as acids and chlorine that might impair their function overtime? Measure milliliters per minute flow from the drinkers to assure they are putting out the quantity recommended by the manufacturer for each specific bird age.

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TECHNICAL COLUMN

assure birds have adequate quantity of water coming into the barn. How old is the plumbing and could there be mineral and biofilm buildup? Are there dead end pipes that could be a factor? What is the age and material of the distribution system?

Sanitation between flocks Has the system been cleaned between flocks? How? With what products? Was the entire system, barn lines as well as underground distribution lines, cleaned? Proper cleaning procedures are critical for success with eliminating disease challenges in the water. Sometimes what we think is occurring may not be reality.

gen peroxide during the first week of production and the problem was significantly reduced.

Additional products How often are products such as vaccines, vaccine stabilizers, vitamins, organic acids, probiotics used in the system? While these may have benefits for the birds, they can be food sources for biofilm in water systems. The more operations steer away from good, clean, sanitized water, the greater the risks.

Field experience

Ask questions and make sure products designed for water system cleaning are being used at the correct concentration and left adequate time to complete the job. Utilize swabs to inspect that the cleaning procedure is working.

Again, opening a regulator and swabbing it for microbial growth post line cleaning will provide all the evidence needed.

We got a frantic SOS call from a producer with weekold chicks and water systems clogged with a thick slimey goo. Turns out he had used an organic acid at the end of the last flock, did not clean water lines and then started the new flock on a probiotic. It turned into the perfect recipe for a water system disaster that even raising the lines at night and filling with concentrated cleaner did not fix.

He finally had to buy extra nipples and slowly replace and clean all the nipples in his 6 barns.

Product use during locks

Sanitizer monitoring and verification

Sanitizers

Is any monitoring being done to assure the sanitizer residual is effective? The sanitizer level needed when birds are young may be different from what is needed as they age. By establishing a continuous monitoring program, it is much easier to have an idea of what â&#x20AC;&#x2039;â&#x20AC;&#x2039; needs to be done throughout the flock to assure the water is clean and sanitized at a level that is the most beneficial for the birds.

Is there a routine use of water sanitizers? It may be necessary to pull a sample from the drinker and test for bacteria and use this to correlate to an adequate dosage of chlorine or hydrogen peroxide because the water on farms will respond differently to each sanitizer. What works beautifully on one operation may be too much or too little for another.

Field experience A company that was struggling with E. coli challenges in young poults found their water storage setup was resulting in a loss of chlorine residual by the time the slow moving water reached the poults. A switch to a stabilized hydrogen peroxide during the brooding period made a difference in bird health. Stabilized products tend to hold their sanitizing residual for much longer than chlorine or even chlorine dioxide so can be a useful tool during vulnerable points like early brooding, onset of lay for or at move for turkeys. A broiler complex was struggling with high 7 day mortality with chicks often showing signs of E. coli infections. The complex moved to stabilized hydro-

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Is there consistent documentation of sanitizer residual?

It is hard to convince me that water sanitation is a major part of an operation if there is no proof of testing.

Conclusion In conclusion, water is a crucial nutrient input for meat and egg production. Water supplies and systems can be plagued with a multitude of issues affecting everything from quality to quantity. Water supplies are dynamic and the nature of production barns and products used can create challenges. Utilize this guide to trouble shoot the water system in your operation.

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- technical column -

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MANAGEMENT

Management of chicken manure The correct handling of birds’ manure and in general of any species results in a series of advantages and by not doing so, we are contributing to the contamination of the environment since it is a waste that contains some elements that can contaminate the territory.

Figure 1 – Presentation of a static biopile in layers of sawdust compost.

Figure 2 – Mesh of sawdust substrate, dry leaves, and laying hen feces.

Figure 3 – Temperature reached during the composting process (68 °C).

Jínez MT, Ávila GE and Fuente MB Centro de Enseñanza, Investigación y Extensión en Producción avícola de la Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

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The laying hen produces an average of 150 to 200 g of fresh feces, which is considered a source of pollution due to the high content of nitrogen and phosphorus and contains a large amount of moisture. Proper management of chicken manure can reduce odors and destroy pathogens. The beneficial effect of using manures of different species including birds has been known for some time. Until the end of the 19th century, agriculture mainly depended on manures to obtain good harvests; however, this rapidly changed with the production of chemical fertilizers. With natural gas sources, cheap and abundant for the synthesis of ammonia, chemical fertilizers became so afford-

- management -

able that manure was displaced; but due to current organic, ecological or sustainability trends, organic fertilizers have once again become important1.

Previously, animals were raised free-range, spread over large areas of land, with an immediate and economic incorporation in situ of their manure to the land where they were grazing. Currently, with large production facilities, livestock tends to be centralized in smaller areas. Although this procedure is more efficient from a productive point of view and implies lower costs with a more adequate disease control and prevention, it leads to the accumulation of large quantities of manures which are far from the ag-

MANAGEMENT

ricultural fields where they could be used, resulting in unfavorable environmental conditions by contamination related to odors, nitrates, salts, biological, bacteriological and landscape among others.

In Mexico, manure is obtained mainly from cattle, as well as from laying hens, pigs, goats, and others. The quality of manure varies according to its origin; laying hens’ manure is twice as rich in nitrogen and about five times richer in phosphorus than bovine’s one2. Manure can be in semi-solid-semi-liquid state, fresh with little or no dilution of water and, in any of these forms, can be applied directly to agricultural land, improving or degrading soil fertility if not properly handled. Stacking of manure outdoors until its application, which in Mexico usually happens once a year, causes loss of nutrients by the action of the sun, rain and wind, originating serious environmental contamination problems and damage to the local inhabitants3.

In Mexico, in 1920 there was a waste of manure of 50% due to poor management and application according to the livestock census. Currently, around 49 million tons of manure per year are obtained from animal farming. Manure degradation and stabilization occur spontaneously in nature with the participation of organisms present in soil, which take their energy and food from it.

In this context an adequate waste management was completed, covering an experimental area with layer farming for the supply of the Poultry Center of UNAM, and concerning a flock of 1,600 laying hens. Birds produced an average of 240kg-320kg of fresh feces per day; the goal was to reduce it less 50% in volume with proper waste handling manure, thus decreasing odors, propagation of pathogens and noxious fauna. Laying hens manure was supposed to fertilize fields, if correctly handled, produc-

ing a fertilizer rich in nutrients for the soils to the benefit of producers and final consumers.

For a correct handling of waste, the most important factor is to have a roofed fenced area with wide doors if the process is completed in an open place. This way nitrogen and phosphorus can be reduced, a key factor for the development of the product used for fertilization. Using 8 containers of 6m³ each, carbon sources or substrate are obtained with leaf litter made by wood chips, sawdust, straw and the excreta, starting with a bed substrate of 20 cm and adding 10 cm of chicken manure, and repeating until reaching the height of less than one meter and above 80 cm (4 layers – Figure 1). Layers can be made by mixing the materials trying not to exceed the m³ (Figure 2). Between day two and three the temperature increases until reaching 70 °C (Figure 3); pathogens can be eliminated at this temperature and then the biopile is formed. If the turning process is carried out two or three times a month, this has the advantage of accelerating the microbiological process; the fermentation process lasts between 30 and 40 days thanks to aerobic and anaerobic composting; at the end of this period one should only wait for the biopile to mature in 3 and 4 months and then it can be used as a fertilizer.

References 1. Bourlang N.E. y Enkerlin 1997, Cruz M. S. 1976 y 1986.

2. Fernández, 1982.

3. Cruz, 1976 and Cruz, 1986.

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MANAGEMENT

Continuous monitoring and testing of our flocks are key parts of our biosecurity program and protecting our supply chain

Biosecurity: protecting our flocks to sustain the supply chain Safeguarding animal health is of paramount importance to any countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economy and food supply. Livestock with a clean health status is an important requirement for a country to participate in global protein markets.

Algis Martinez, DVM, ACPV Diplomate Global Veterinary Services, Cobb-Vantress, Inc.

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There are a number of emerging and reemerging animal diseases of concern that may affect the adequacy of the food supply for a growing world population and have huge implications for global trade and commerce. Unfortunately, zoonotic diseases including Avian Influenza keep reemerging in some specific areas of the world, causing high morbidity and mortality in poultry. In some cases, outbreaks of zoonotic disease can impact the supply chain and ultimately reduce the availability of food to consumers.

Some industries more than others still face challenges with diseases including Newcastle Disease (ND), Infectious Bursal Disease (IBD), Infectious Nronchitis (IBV), and Infectious Laryngotracheitis (ILT). In addition to the costs borne directly by protein producers, additional

- management -

MANAGEMENT

costs are incurred on a global level when there is a disruption in international availability of poultry meat, eggs, and/or chicks.

At Cobb, we are committed to producing and providing a safe and secure supply of poultry breeding stock to our customers around the world. Components of our biosecurity programs have been certified by independent agencies including the National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP under auspices of the USDA in the USA); the Poultry Health Scheme of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA in the UK); the Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (Netherlands); and the National Poultry Health Program of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (PNSA of MAPA in Brazil).

These organizations conduct regular auditing and monitoring of the health programs of our breeding operations.

Regular testing is a key to a biosecurity program that has protected our supply chain from disease outbreaks for decades. A prime example is our participation in the Avian Influenza clean program of the National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP). We are certified as Avian Influenza Clean in this national plan, and all flocks are tested for Avian Influenza every 3 weeks. As a certified participant, this program allows Cobb to meet the Avian Influenza import requirements for the majority of our trading partners.

As a global company that produces genetic stock for customers around the world, we work hard to prevent interruptions to our supply chain.

Cobb has pedigree, great-grandparent, grandparent production facilities, and hatcheries strategically

located around the globe. We utilize a network of more than 60 distributors to ship our products. Furthermore, we have compartmentalized our operations in Brazil, the UK, and the USA following the guidelines by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). These measures help ensure the security and availability of our products in the event of disease, outbreaks, and other possible interruptions to our supply chain provided there is a bilateral agreement in which the receiving country recognizes the certified compartments in the exporting country.

Strict biosecurity programs are a foundation of our risk management strategy. Our biosecurity protocols exceed the requirements of most government programs, so importing officials have a high degree of confidence in our products. Exceptional biosecurity allows us to distribute breeding stock to more than 120 countries. You can learn more about our biosecurity programs at https:// www.cobb-vantress.com/en_US/biosecurity/na/english/.

An important part of the supply chain is the export process. Careful planning and documentation are fundamental to deliver a quality product to international customers without delays. Our team of export specialists follows strict biosecurity protocols and works carefully to meet the unique requirements of each country, including special paperwork and/or additional testing. To make the export process more efficient, we pioneered the use of an electronic health certification system for day-old poultry in coordination with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Cobb served as the first company to pilot this model in Canada and Guatemala. Since

- december 2020 -

Algis Martinez, DVM.

then, the program has expanded to include most countries around the world and uses partial to fully electronic processing.

There has been increased recognition of the importance of strict biosecurity practices, and we encourage every producer to focus on building and sustaining a biosecurity culture.

Training farm and hatchery team members is a fundamental part of building the biosecurity culture as workers are known to be the most common source of disease transmission. Chick delivery drivers also adhere to our biosecurity protocols, allowing the delivery of products to customers in our domestic markets without the concern of disease.

There is also a zero-tolerance policy in place for all team members to prevent direct contact or interaction with poultry outside the production facility. This is by far one of the most important principles of biosecurity.

In this integrated and dependent world, a strict biosecurity program is integral to preventing economic and supply chain disasters arising from livestock disease. Upon realizing the dangers and risks of poultry diseases in commercial poultry production systems, producers have worked to understand the cost-benefit ratio of implementing and maintaining an effective biosecurity program.

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NUTRITION

Protein nutrition of breeders to improve production, hatchability and offspring performance â&#x20AC;&#x201C; First Part

ŠBig Dutchman

In the last decades, poultry meat has become the most important protein source in human diet, and production is growing worldwide. Global poultry meat production in 2000 was 69 million tons and this increased to over 97 million tons in 2010. This equates to an annual production of approximately 70 billion broilers, originating from approximately 600 million broiler breeders.

Nowadays, management issues in broiler breeders associated with nutrition and reproductive characteristics are becoming increasingly challenging. Due to genetic selection on broilers, body composition of breeders has changed dramatically during the last 50 years to less fat and more breast muscle. It is postulated that a certain amount of body fat in broiler breeders at the onset of lay is necessary for maximum performance and offspring quality.

R.A. Van Emous Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands

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Body composition of breeders can be influenced by different feed allowances during rearing and lay, as well as by changes in nutrient composition of the diet. It can be concluded that feeding a low protein diet during rearing decreased breast muscle and increased abdominal

- nutrition -

NUTRITION

fat pad. The higher abdominal fat pad content resulted in an increased hatchability during the first phase of lay and a larger number of eggs during the second phase of lay. On the other hand, a low daily protein intake during the rearing and first phase of lay can lead to a poor feather cover. Feeding a high-energy diet during the second phase of lay resulted in increased hatchability, decreased embryonic mortality and more first grade chicks.

Introduction So a relatively small number of broiler breeders have a major impact on the poultry meat chain and optimizing management of breeders will have benefits for the total chain. Broiler breeders need to produce first class and healthy chicks. Due to the continuing increase in the genetic potential of the offspring, this is becoming increasingly challenging.

In the past, obesity, mainly in the second phase of the laying period, was a major problem in broiler breeder flocks and resulted often in a decreased reproduction rate during the laying period. Overweight hens have sperm storage problems (due to the fat deposition in the sperm storage glands) and physical problems during the cloacal contact during natural mating. The body composition of breeders, however, has changed dramatically during the last five to six decades. In modern broiler breeders, obesity is not an issue anymore, due to the selection of strains with increased breast muscle and decreased fat pad deposition characteristic. The selection for increased feed efficiency, growth rate and body fat content has not only affected the offspring but also the parent stock. This was recently confirmed by Eitan et al. (2014), who compared a 1980 to a 2000 breeder strain. The 2000 strain contained 42% more breast meat (21.2 vs. 14.9% of BW) and 50% smaller abdominal fat pad (2.7 vs. 5.4% of BW), compared to the 1980 strain.

Feeding high yield breeders high levels of amino acids (e.g. lysine) will lead to more muscle production and this extra muscle requires more energy to maintain. Therefore, during the last decade several researchers have reported that broiler breeders need a certain proportion of body fat at the onset of lay for subsequent reproductive performance. Because tissue growth is directly affected by dietary nutrient composition, a nutritional approach to this topic is highly relevant. Therefore, the overall practical objective of the present presentation is to give an overview of the research on the effect of protein intake

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NUTRITION

during the rearing and laying period on body composition, breeder performance and offspring.

Effect of protein intake during rear on body composition Changes in feed allowance or a change in diet composition (energy and/or protein levels) have been used as generally applied dietary interventions. Several authors have evaluated the use of a change in feed allowances on body composition during rearing or laying. Other studies evaluated the effects of a change in diet composition on body composition during rearing.

The combination of different feed allocations and different dietary protein levels in a single trial during the rearing period and its effects on body composition has received limited attention with the exception of a trial by Hocking et al. (2002). Such an experiment has been the focus of Van Emous et al. (2013), however, no interactions of the different feeding strategies on body composition were found.

Moreover, differences in dietary protein levels during the rearing period were more effective than modifying the growth pattern by different feed allocations in changing body composition. This was probably due to the rather small differences (8%) in BW between treatments at the end of the rearing period as described in Van Emous et

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al. (2013). For example, Renema et al. (2001a) did not find an effect of an 11% higher BW, while a 21% higher BW increased abdominal fat content at the end of the rearing period. On the other hand, feeding broiler breeders to a 20% higher BW (2,640 vs. 2,200 g) at the end of rearing is relatively beyond practical conditions.

A, on average, 16% lower dietary CP during the rearing period in the studies reported by Van Emous et al.

(2013, 2015a) resulted in a decreased breast meat and increased abdominal fat pad content at 10 wk of age and at onset of lay (20 and 22 wk of age). This was in close agreement with Mba et al. (2010) who found the same effects of a 12.5% reduction in crude protein content of the diet (14 vs. 16%) on body composition at 12 and 23 wk of age. In fact, not the dietary crude protein or amino acid content influenced body composition, but the differences in daily or total intake of the macro nutrients. On average, in both experiments of this thesis, the 16% lower protein diets (low vs. high protein diet) resulted in a 11% higher total energy, 5% lower total crude protein, and 7% lower total amino acid intake during the rearing period.

Average breast muscle (18.8 vs. 17.2%) and abdominal fat pad (1.0 vs. 0.4%) content at the end of the rearing period of all birds was relative higher in the study reported

by Van Emous et al. (2015a) than the study by Van Emous et al. (2013). The differences between the experiments

- nutrition -

NUTRITION

in breast muscle content might be explained by the differences in the higher total dietary protein and moreover total digestible lysine intake (+4.5%) in the second compared to the first experiment. Particularly dietary lysine is known as the major essential amino acid for breast muscle deposition in broilers and thus also for broiler breeders.

The abdominal fat pad content roughly doubled in the study reported by Van Emous et al. (2015a) compared to the study reported by Van Emous (2013) could be explained by two different factors. Firstly, body composition at the end of the rearing period was determined at 20 and 22 wk of age. In this pullet to breeder transition period, body composition or moreover fat content of the body changes dramatically. Secondly, the differences could be explained by the - on average - 4.5% higher cumulative energy intake in the study reported by Van Emous et al.

(2015a).

At 15 wk of age, no effects of dietary protein level on abdominal fat pad (% BW) were found while this was present at wk 10. This phenomenon was also reported by Mba et al. (2010) who observed a difference in abdominal fat pad affected by differences in dietary protein level at wk 12 while this disappeared at 19 wk of age. It seems that abdominal fat pad and fat contents of the body follows a specific pattern during rearing with ageing. This pattern in body composition was previously reported by Bennet and Leeson (1990) who found a decreased total fat content between 2 and 14 wk of age but an increased fat content between 14 and 24 wk of age. Combining the data of different authors yields a quadratic relationship between age and abdominal fat pad content (% BW) during the rearing and pullet to breeder transition period (P<0.001).

The decreased abdominal fat pad weight around 12 wk of age is caused by the severe feed restriction levels (67 to 75%) between 7 and 16 wk of age, as described by De Jong and GuĂŠmĂŠne (2011). It is likely that due to the severe feed restriction program during the midterm phase of rearing, pullets are required to use body (fat) reserves to meet energy requirements. This explains that the fat content of the body decreased during the severe feed restriction period while it increased again when energy intake increases substantially after 15 wk of age. Feathers are high in protein and amino acids, especially the sulfur-containing amino acids methionine and cysteine which are needed for the synthesis of feather keratin.

Feather cover development is not well described in broiler breeder nutrition research. A low protein diet during the rearing period, however, had a negative effect on feath-

- december 2020 -

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NUTRITION

KEEP UP ON

TRENDS AND CHALLENGES of poultry industry with

er cover quality. In the experiment of Van Emous et al.

(2013), feather cover was inferior on the low protein diet at 6 and 11 wk of age while this difference disappeared from 16 wk of age onward. In the experiment of Van Emous et al. (2015c), feather coverage was inferior on the low protein diet during the entire rearing period. It is, therefore, suggested that the protein and amino acid levels of the diets in the studies here were critical or deficient, in particular those amino acids needed for feather growth and development. The effect of daily protein intake on feather growth in broilers was previously reported by Twining et al. (1976), Aktara et al. (1996), Melo et al. (1999) and Urdaneta-Rincon and Leeson (2004).

The suggestion of protein deficiency was underlined by the malformed cover feathers on the wings in the current study what might be an indication of amino acids deficiency. Moran (1984) already showed that marginal dietary deficiencies of sulfur containing amino acids resulted in abnormal feathering. Data of Van Emous et al.

(2013) were used to analyze the linear relationships between the total crude protein intakes at different phases during the rearing period on feather cover score. The data show that the effect of a low total CP intake on feather cover score was much more pronounced between 2 and 6 wk of age (P<0.001) than between 6 and 15 wk of age (P=0.182). It is therefore important to conclude that total CP (and AA) is a critical factor in development of feathers cover during rearing till approximately 6 wk of age.

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been 50 years since Zootecnica International started serving the poultry industry and professionals. Today the magazine is edited in three languages (English, Italian and Russian) and delivered monthly in 120 countries, reaching around 30.000 readers all over the world.

The target of Zootecnica International includes: farmers, egg producers, breeding companies, hatcheries, feed mills, poultry and egg meat processing companies.

Both magazine and website offer a broad overview on the poultry industry, providing in-depth news on international markets, business management, trends and practices in poultry, genetics, incubation, nutrition, veterinary and management.

A low daily protein intake during the first phase of the laying period resulted in a poor feather cover during the entire laying period. This phenomenon (low CP intake and poor feather cover) was observed during the rearing period as well. This effect was more pronounced in the first than in the second phase of lay, potentially because feather cover during the second phase was already almost completely damaged thereby masking treatment differences.

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End of the first part References available on request Source: 4th International Poultry Meat Congress

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- nutrition -

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NUTRITION

Peter F. Surai 1,2,3,4,5 1

Vitagene and Health Research Centre, Bristol, UK; 2

Department of Hygiene and Poultry Sciences, Moscow State Academy of Veterinary Medicine and Biotechnology named after K.I. Skryabin, Moscow, Russia

3

Department of Microbiology and Biochemistry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Trakia University, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria 4

Department of Animal Nutrition, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Szent Istvan University, Gรถdรถllo, Hungary 5

Saint-Petersburg State Academy of Veterinary Medicine, St. Petersburg, Russia

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Antioxidants in poultry nutrition and reproduction. An update For the last three decades poultry production worldwide has made tremendous progress in terms of quantity and quality of meat and egg production, including improvement of growth rate and feed conversion rate. However, it has been proven that commercial poultry production is associated with a range of stresses including environmental, technological, nutritional, and internal/biological.

It is practically impossible to avoid stresses, so therefore overproduction of free radicals and oxidative stress are very common problems in commercial poultry production. Natural antioxidants should, as a result, be included as an essential factor in poultry nutrition.

- nutrition -

NUTRITION

This special issue consists of seven articles related to natural antioxidants in avian nutrition and reproduction.

In particular, three papers were related to meat quality issues. In fact, meat quality includes four major categories: technological, nutritional, hygienic, and organoleptic parameters, and antioxidants affect three of them. Estevez and Petracci evaluated the effect of Mg supplementation (0.3%) on production parameters, the redox status and meat quality in growing broilers.

The author showed that Mg dietary supplementation increased Mg2+ concentration in blood and liver, while Mg2+ concentration in muscles was not affected. A very important finding of this paper is related to improvement of water-holding capacity (WHC) of the meat due to Mg dietary supplementation. Indeed, WHC plays a very important role not only in the improvement of meat appearance (major determinant of making decision for meat choice on the supermarket shelf), but also in meat juiciness and prevention of microbial spoilage. It was shown that dietary Mg supplementation was associated with improved AO defenses (catalase activity) in the liver, muscles, and blood and decreased protein oxidation marker (protein carbonyls) in the liver and plasma.

One more important finding of this study is protective effects of Mg dietary supplementation on the development of two major myopathies affecting meat quality, namely white striping (WS) and wooden breast (WB), affecting 47% and 40% of birds in the study. Interestingly, meat from birds with WS and WB was characterized by decreased WHC with increased protein oxidation in WB-affected birds. There are several limitations of the study related to a comparatively small number of birds (32

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chickens per treatment) and only one marker of protein oxidation (protein carbonyls) used.

Previous publications of the authors made great contributions to the understanding detrimental effects of protein oxidation on meat quality and human health. To address involvement of protein oxidation in the development of WB and WS it is necessary to conduct further research using more sensitive markers of protein oxidation with specific emphasis to cysteine and methionine groups in proteins which are associated with redox status of tissues. Furthermore, nutritional modulation of antioxidant system of the body to prevent WS and WB and improve meat quality awaits further investigation.

Therefore, Shakeri et al. studied the effects of betaine, or a mixture of betaine, selenized yeast, and vitamin E on growing birds under physiological conditions and cyclical heat stress (HS) conditions in a small university trial with 72 day-old birds grown for 42 days. The chickens were fed either a commercial control diet (50 IU/kg Vit. E and 0.3 mg/kg Se) (CON), or the control diet supplemented with 1 g/kg betaine (BET) or the control diet plus a combination of 1 g/kg BET with 0.3 mg/kg Se (as selenized yeast) and 200 IU/kg Vit. E. Final body weight was shown to be significantly decreased by HS, while BET showed protective effects. It was also found that HS was associated with reduced cooking loss and had no effect on drip loss. Again, BET was found to decrease the drip loss.

Furthermore, HS reduced the myofibril fragmentation index and increased lipid peroxidation as evidenced by increased thiobarbituric acid reactive species (TBARS).

Heat stress was shown to increase TBARS post slaughter (5.65 vs 3.60, P<0.001), whereas TBARS were decreased by BET (4.08 vs 5.72, P<0.001).

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“To address involvement of protein oxidation in the development of WB and WS it is necessary to conduct further research using more sensitive markers of protein oxidation with specific emphasis to cysteine and methionine groups in proteins which are associated with redox status of tissues”

It should be mentioned that additional supplementation of organic Se and vitamin E did not show extra protective effects on major parameters studied, including lipid peroxidation index in stress condition, in comparison to BET supplemented birds. However, in thermoneutral conditions the antioxidant combination in the chicken diet showed additional protective effects (in comparison to BET alone) against lipid peroxidation in the breast muscle. Clearly, BET was shown to be protective under heat stress conditions in growing birds. Molecular mechanisms of antioxidant-related protective effects of BET under heat stress are still not very clear. However, the possibility of BET affecting activity of vitagenes, responsible for stress adaptation, deserves more attention. A failure of antioxidant combination to improve BET protective efficacy reflects restricted knowledge in this antioxidant area and indicates that there is a need for more research in the field of antioxidant interactions and redox regulation of the antioxidant-related genes/vitagenes.

In the Jiang et al. study, a total of 324 pairs of breeding pigeons were selected and allotted to nine treatments in a completely randomized design, and the birds were fed dietary treatments for 45 d, including a Met-deficient basal diet (BD, crude protein=15%, Met=0.25%) and BD +0.15%, 0.30%, 0.45% or 0.60% dl-Methionine (Met) or dl-methionyl-dl-methionine (dl-Met-Met) diets. As one can expect, compared to the Met-deficient diet fed to the BD group, dietary dl-Met or dl-Met-Met supplementation

44

effectively increased most of studied parameters of meat production and quality. Interestingly, catalase activity, total superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity were increased, while malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration, drip loss and cooking loss of squabs were decreased. Moreover, dl-Met-Met was more effective than dl-Met in decreasing the drip loss and improving the antioxidant activity of the breast and thigh muscles of squabs.

On the one hand, Met residues in proteins can act as endogenous antioxidants involved in redox balance maintenance and stress adaptation. On the other hand, Met is an important precursor of GSH and also involved in protein structure stabilization. Clearly, there is a range of mechanisms by which Met deficiency can detrimentally affect the antioxidant defense network and an optimal Met dietary supplementation is a key for high chicken growth, development, and stress resistance.

Among the many different stresses affecting growing chickens, mycotoxins are considered to be major unavoidable nutritional stressors. It seems likely that oxidative stress and changes in gene expression and cell redox signaling are major molecular mechanisms of the detrimental effects of mycotoxins on poultry. Kovesi et al. evaluated the effect of ochratoxin A (OTA; 106, 654 and 1126 µg/kg feed) exposure for 3 weeks on lipid peroxidation, GSH concentration and GPx activity, as well as expression of oxidative stress response-related (KEAP1, NRF2) and glutathione system (GPX3, GPX4, GSS, GSR) genes in chickens. It was shown that OTA imposed oxidative stress in the liver and kidney leading to lipid peroxidation (MDA). The main finding of the study is dysregulation of the antioxidant defense network in the case of OTA exposure. For example, as a result of the highest OTA dose exposure, GSH concentration was shown to be increased in blood plasma and in liver, but not in red blood cell hemolysates and the kidney.

It is not clear if these changes in GSH are just a reflection of disbalance between synthesis and usage of GSH or there is a redistribution of this antioxidant between other tissues due to OTA intoxication. In fact, neither GSH content nor GPx activity increased systematically during the period of OTA exposure. Again, tissue-specific response to OTA was evident, since expression of the KEAP1 gene was up-regulated in the liver, but down-regulated in the kidney. At the same time, increased expression of NRF2 gene was evident in the liver and kidney at the highest

- nutrition -

NUTRITION

OTA exposure. The complexity of the AO system dysregulation is confirmed by down-regulation of Nrf2 dependent genes, GPX3, GPX4, GSS, and GSR due to OTA exposure, showing differences at gene expression and protein synthesis levels of various antioxidants under OTA-induced stress conditions. It seems likely that dysregulation of the antioxidant defense network and disruption of redox balance and signaling are important steps in mycotoxin-related stresses. This is true not only for OTA (this paper), but also for T-2 toxin, aflatoxins and other mycotoxin exposure singly or in combination. Therefore, elucidation of molecular mechanisms of dysregulating actions of mycotoxins on the antioxidant defense network and search for an effective strategy to deal with mycotoxin-related nutritional stresses in poultry production warrants further research.

An important addition to this Special Issue was the paper written by Moller et al. which was devoted to evaluation of liver antioxidants in relation to beak morphology, gizzard size, and diet of the common eider Somateria mollissima.

Data on antioxidant defense systems in wild birds are quite limited, but they can help to answer many questions related to the optimal dosage of dietary antioxidants in feed for domestic birds in commercial conditions of meat and egg production.

The authors studied vitamin E, carotenoids, and coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), which are major antioxidants in avian species. It was found that the eider had a disproportionately large liver for its body size compared to other species, but the concentration of CoQ10 decreased with liver size. It was hypothesized that individuals with small livers for their body size are also those that have the small-

est ability for synthesis of CoQ in response to oxidative stress. The authors showed that the concentration of antioxidants (total carotenoids, vitamin E and CoQ10) decreased among individuals with larger beaks suggesting that individuals with large beaks had difficulty acquiring sufficient concentrations of antioxidants from feed. Furthermore, eiders with high concentrations of total carotenoids and CoQ10 were shown to have small gizzards, suggesting that the processing of food by a large gizzard was associated with a low concentration of antioxidants.

Hu et al. reviewed potential mechanisms underlying the protective effects of polyphenols on heat stressed poultry.

The authors characterized protective effects of three polyphenolics; namely, resveratrol, curcumin (a yellow polyphenol extracted from the traditional Chinese medicine, zingiber plant), and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), the primary component of green tea extract.

In general, for the last 30 years a great number of research papers has been published to show antioxidant properties of polyphenolic compounds. However, there are several important issues related to polyphenolic assimilation from plant materials in poultry, farm animals, and humans which strongly suggest that polyphenolics are not direct antioxidants in biological systems but rather indirectly affect antioxidant defense mechanisms. First of all, absorption and assimilation of polyphenolic compounds from the diet is extremely low and therefore their concentration in target tissues is too low to show effective direct free radical scavenging activity. This means that antioxidant properties of many polyphenolic compounds shown in the model systems in vitro are related to concentrations which are not achievable in biological tissues. Furthermore, quick polyphenolic metabolism sug-

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NUTRITION

gests that active compounds showing biological effects at the tissue/cell level might be different from those consumed with the diet. In addition, depending on conditions, polyphenolics can show antioxidant or mild pro- oxidant properties. Therefore, it was suggested that on the one hand polyphenolics could have substantial protective effect in the gut where their concentration could be quite high. On the other hand, polyphenolics could affect various transcription factors, including Nrf2 and NF-κB, and by doing so indirectly upregulate antioxidant defences. Therefore, Hu et al. paid special attention to the polyphenolic protective action in the chicken gut. Indeed, improvement of antioxidant defense system, probably via activation of transcription factors, including Nrf2 and NF-κB, is a key mechanism of protective effect of polyphenolics in heatstressed poultry.

Surai et al. presented an update on the antioxidant defense system in poultry.

In general, that update is summarized in Figure 1.

Mitochondria and phagocyte cells are major sources of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS). There are also various stress conditions in poul-

Internal sources and external stimulus (Stress factors) of RONS production

Figure 1 – Antioxidant defense network in poultry (adapted from Surai, P.F. et al., 2019).

(RONS-reactive oxygen and nitrogen species; OSR-oxidative stress response, HSR-heat shock response, UPR-unfolded protein response; HIR-hypoxia-induced response; HSF1heat shock factor; Nrf2-transcription factor; NFkB-transcription factor; FOXO-transcription factors; HIF-hypoxia-inducible transcription factor; p65-transcription factor; HSP70-heat shock protein 70; HO-1-heme oxygenase 1; SOD-superoxide dismutase; Trx-Syst.thioredoxin system (thioredoxin/thioredoxin peroxidase (peroxiredoxins)/sulfiredoxin/ thioredoxin reductase), GSH-syst.-glutathione system (glutathione/glutathione reductase/ glutaredoxin/glutathione peroxidase).

46

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try production increasing RONS production. It is well appreciated that RONS play important roles as signaling molecules; however, when their concentration is above threshold level, they can cause damage to main biological molecules, including lipids, proteins, and DNA/RNA. As a result of RONS excess, a stress response program (Oxidative stress response, OSR) is activated. Since oxidative stress can cause a range of damages to various molecules, in addition to OSR, other stress response programs, including heat shock response (HSR), unfolded protein response (UPR), hypoxia-induced response (HIR), and DNA damage response, are also activated. This leads to activation of various transcription factors, including HSF1, Nrf2, NF-κB, FOXO, HIF, p53, and others.

As a result of the upregulation of transcription factors, various genes, including vitagenes, are activated.

In fact, activation of HSF increased production of HSP70, Nrf2 activation increased synthesis of SOD, HO-1, elements of thioredoxin and glutathione systems; and FOXO activation would cause increased expression of sirtuins. There is a complex system of interplay between vitagenes and transcription factors.

In fact, some vitagenes, like SOD, are affected by several transcription factors including Nrf2, NF-κB, p53, etc. Since SOD is responsible for production of H2O2, major signaling RONS, control of its concentration is of paramount importance.

Furthermore, products of vitagene activation, e.g., sirtuins, would affect expression and activity of some transcription factors, including Nrf2, NF-κB, FOXO, etc. Some vitagenes

NUTRITION

can be activated directly without transcription factor involvement. This includes transcriptional regulation of SOD in response to ROS as well as activation of sirtuins by changes in NAD+/NADH ratio. In general, redox homeostasis plays an important role in the regulation of antioxidant defences. RONS are also responsible for adaptive production/activation of other antioxidants, which are not included into vitagene family (e.g., CoQ, catalase, various selenoproteins, etc.) and they all responsible for redox balance maintenance, stress resistance and adaptation leading to good health, high immunocompetence, high productive and reproductive performance of poultry.

However, when the antioxidant defense system, together with the vitagene network, are not able to prevent or repair damages imposed by RONS to biological molecules, other protective mechanisms including mitophagy, autophagy, apoptosis, necroptosis, and ferroptosis are dealing with terminally damaged molecules, organelles or cells. As a result of disrupted redox balance and accumulation of damages in cells/tissues, health-related problems, including low immunocompetence, appear.

In addition, decreased productive and reproductive performance can cause heavy economic losses for poultry industry.

Since it is almost impossible to avoid stresses in commercial poultry production, a search for nutritional means of antioxidant system modulation, including usage of increased doses of vitamin E, selenium, taurine and polyphenolics, is on the agenda of many research groups world-wide. It seems likely that vitagene modulation by nutritional means (e.g., carnitine, betaine, silymarin, taurine, vitamin and minerals) is a new strategy to prevent commercially relevant stresses and maintain high productive and reproductive performance of commercial poultry.

Acknowledgments: Peter F. Surai is supported by a grant of the Government of Russian Federation.

First published in Antioxidants 2020, 9, 105 References are available on request

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Understanding the woody breast syndrome and other myopathies in modern broiler chickens The poultry industry has seen an increase in several breast meat myopathies over the past decade. They range from woody breast syndrome (tough chicken fillet), to white striping and the so-called spaghetti meat (muscle fibre separation). All seem to be related to the quantity of connective tissue within the muscle. A number of researchers are of the opinion that they all have the same etiology. working on reducing the prevalence, by modifying environmental factors and by genetic selection. The presentation will further explain the types of myopathies observed as well as the factors currently being studied in an attempt to reduce the incidence.

Introduction

Summary

S. Barbut Food Science Department, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada sbarbut@uoguelph.ca

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It is currently estimated that breast meat myopathies cost the global poultry industry over $1 billion in direct and indirect costs.

The incidence of these myopathies, within a given flock, appears to be related to factors such as growth rate, genetics, nutrition, management and bird activity. The resulting meat can have tougher texture, lower binding and reduced water holding, but does not present a food safety issue. However, because of the appearance of the meat some might be trimmed at the processing plant.

Different segments of the industry are now

- processing -

The rise in incidence of myopathies in young broilers over the past few years has resulted in the industry looking for solutions to reduce and/or eliminate their effects in the poultry flock. The main three myopathies of concern are the so-called white striping (WS - parallel white stripes on the surface of the broilerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pectoralis muscle), woody breast (WB - accumulation of connective tissue fibres and fat cells in the inner pectoralis muscle), and spaghetti meat (SP - appearing like splitting of the muscle bundles), which seem to be associated with fast growing and heavier birds. It should be noted that other myopathies in areas such as the leg, the dorsal part of the bird, and the deep pectoralis muscle are detected sometimes, but not at the levels of WS or WB, and therefore currently do not cause major concern.

Estimates of the costs and causes have been reported in recent years in both scientific journals and the general press. One such example is the 2016 Wall Street Journal article titled â&#x20AC;&#x153;Bigger Chickens Bring a

PROCESSING

Tough New Problem: Woody Breast” in which it was estimated that 5-10% of commercial chicken breast products could be affected by the WB syndrome. It also suggested that the cause is not necessarily associated with the final weight of the bird but more so with how quickly the bird reaches that weight. Later that year, a research estimated the annual cost to the American industry at $200 million. Today, estimates go as high as $1billion for the global poultry industry. The cost is associated with sorting out the meat, diverting some of the meat to ground and minced products, as well as trimming; i.e., downgrading of the meat. Overall, the industry has made big advancements in raising chickens faster and in a more efficient way and now some are suggesting that this has also resulted in increasing the incidence of myopathies.

Discussion Some researchers reported that the incidence of WS increases as body weight increases. They published data showing that, as broilers are raised above 2.7 kg, the inci-

dence of severe WS increases. Today, we also know that it is related to the growth rate at a specific age of the bird, and not only to the absolute body weight. They have also looked at four different broiler strains and reported that the incidence of severe WS was 5% for the first strain, 35% for the second, 5% for the third, and 16% for the fourth strain. This shows that genetics plays a role, and currently breeding companies are working on selecting birds that are less susceptible to this myopathy. In addition, these authors reported that male birds showed higher numbers with severe WS compared to female birds (43 vs. 18%). Today, we know that overall body weight should also be taken into account, as newer data show that, at the same body weight, female birds tend to have a higher proportion of WS. The reasons for developing these myopathies can vary quite a lot and there are different factors that can potentially contribute to their development. Overall, it appears that these myopathies are a result of muscle cell damage that does not have enough time for repair, especially in a fast-growing bird. That is one of the reasons that

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©Kuttapan et al., 2016

PROCESSING

Figure 1 – As the severity of WB and WS can vary, simple scales have been developed to rank their degree and severity (commonly a 0, 1, 2, 3 scale, Petracci et al., 2019).

growth rate, at a young age (10-20 days), has been reported to be an important factor, and today some producers are using this knowledge to minimize myopathies. However, this also affects overall production efficiency which is a major driver for growers. There is also a growing body of literature focusing on oxidative stress and insufficient oxygen supply to the fast-growing pectoralis muscle, which can affect myopathy development.

White striation is the result of muscle fibre replacement with fat and connective tissue. In the past, it was more typically seen in older laying hens, but today it can be seen in young (30-50 day old) broilers. Under the microscope, these fillets also show some myodegenerative muscle fibers, inflammatory cells and infiltration of eosinophilic material; all are indicative of muscle cell injury and the beginning of repair. The WS fillets also result in lower water holding capacity, marinade uptake and higher cooking loss because they have less functional salt soluble proteins.

Woody breast fillets are characterized by firmer texture of the fillets.

This can be detected in the live bird by palpation. When deboned fillets

50

are placed on a flat surface, a distinct harder ridge can be observed.

Sometimes, the affected fillets also show a paler appearance, some surface haemorrhages, and clear exudate on the surface. As the severity of WB and WS can vary, simple scales have been developed to rank their degree and severity: commonly a 0, 1, 2, 3 scale (Figure 1). Sorting of the meat is important to some meat companies, when meat from flocks with a high severity of WS or WB is graded and sent to specific operations (e.g. nugget production).

The microstructure of the WB fillets also shows the accumulation of connective tissue fibres, adipose tissue cells, and lymphocytes; the latter indicate the removal of injured muscle cells. Sihvo et al. (2017) have described this type of histology by saying, “Histological evaluation revealed a significant association of myo-degeneration and lymphocytic vasculitis with WB. Vasculitis and perivascular cell infiltration were restricted to the veins. Results indicate that WB starts focally and spreads to form a diffuse and more severe lesion… white striping often coexisted with WB”.

Other researchers have hypothesized that localized hypoxia is pres-

- processing -

ent in WB tissue due to vascular disruption and/or stagnant tissue perfusion. When comparing the pectoral vessel density between unaffected birds and areas of focal WB in affected chickens, Sihvo et al. (2018) reported that the transverse myofibril area, per vessel, was highest in the unaffected area of muscles from cases of focal WB. This was significantly higher than in macroscopically unaffected tissue, indicating that relatively decreased blood supply may trigger the development of WB in affected birds. These authors suggested that such changes typically originate from osmotic imbalance, for which the most likely etiologies (in developing WB), include tissue hypoxia or myo-degradation of the surrounding myofibres.

In terms of genetics, another research compared large groups of broilers and showed that there was a difference between two purebred lines of commercial broilers with different selection history; i.e., the first group had breast meat yield of 29% and the other 21%. In both groups, there were birds with a high genetic potential for increased body weight and below average for the WB myopathies. These birds are the ones that can be used for selection, and currently that is what is being done by several breeding companies.

The authors further discussed the polygenic nature of these two traits and the relatively low genetic relationships with body weight and breast meat yield, which can facilitate genetic improvement across all traits in a balanced breeding program. They also emphasized the importance of understanding the environmental and management factors that can contribute over half of the variance in WS and WB incidences.

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Currently, the industry is employing different strategies to minimize the occurrence of these myopathies. They range from controlling growth rate to genetics, as well as modifying environmental factors. Bodle et al. (2018) evaluated different dietary alterations and their ability to mitigate the WS and WB syndromes in high-yielding commercial male broilers. Their test diets included a commercial reference diet: increased ratio of digestible arginine to lysine; supplementation of vitamin C; doubling the vitamin pack inclusion; reducing the digestible amino acid density of the grower phase; combination of the 4 strategies mentioned above. Overall, there was no difference in performance at the end of the starter phase; however, at the end of the grower and finisher phases, feeding lower amino acid grower diets suppressed body weight and increased feed conversion. The WB score dropped from 1.83 in the control diet to 1.49, 1.27, 1.74, 1.53, and 1.43 respectively, in the diets mentioned above. Other researchers have also recommended using nutrition to help decrease the rate of WB and suggested vitamin C supplementation to enhance anti-oxidative metabolism.

Grading and sorting the meat is currently done by several companies, but not all. The most common way is palpitation and visual inspection; however employing near infrared (NIR) is gaining popularity. The detection is based on the fact that WB meat has lower protein and higher moisture content. The sensor can work at a high speed of about 200 fillets per minute, which is essential when sorting meat at a high-speed processing plant (15,000 broilers per hour). The sensor is currently being used in several plants and fine- tuning is still going on.

The goal is to have equipment with the lowest possible false positive / negative samples, as this can have a big effect.

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In summary, some growers are already employing various dietary modifications, (e.g., adjusting protein content), management factors, (e.g., lighting, stacking density), as well as genetics (e.g., using breeds known for slower growth rate; lines less susceptible to these myopathies). Long-term solutions focus more on selecting birds that show fewer myopathies, and learning more about the interactions with environmental factors.

Acknowledgements: the author would like to thank the Ontario Ministry of Food and Rural Affairs for their financial support in conducting studies in this area.

References are available on request From the Australian Poultry Science Symposium 2020

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May 31 to June 2 VIV Europe World Expo From Feed To Food Jaarbeurs Exhibition Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands Website: www.viveurope.nl

INTERNET GUIDE ABVista emea@abvista.com www.abvista.com Agritech agritech@agritech.it www.agritech.it Arion Fasoli francesca@arionfasoli.com www.arionfasoli.com Aviagen info@aviagen.com www.aviagen.com Aviagen Turkeys Ltd turkeysltd@aviagen.com www.aviagenturkeys.com Aza International info@azainternational.it www.azainternational.it Barbieri Belts info@barbieri-belts.com www.barbieri-belts.com Big Dutchman big@bigdutchman.com www.bigdutchman.de Biochem info@biochem.net www.biochem.net Carfed Headquarters info@carfed.ch www.carfed.ch Carfed Italian Branch info@carfed.it www.carfed.it Cobb Europe info@cobb-europe.com www.cobb-vantress.com Codaf info@codaf.net www.codaf.net Corti Zootecnici S.r.l. info@cortizootecnici.com www.cortizootecnici.com Elanco www.elanco.com Eurosilos SIRP contatti@eurosilos.it www.eurosilos.it EuroTier eurotier@dlg.org www.eurotier.com Facco Poultry Equipment facco@facco.net www.facco.net Farmer Automatic info@farmerautomatic.de www.farmerautomatic.de FIEM fiem@fiem.it www.fiem.it FierAvicola info@fieravicola.com www.fieravicola.com FierAgricola Verona info@veronafiere.it www.veronafiere.it Gasolec sales@gasolec.com www.gasolec.com Giordano Poultry Plast info@poultryplast.com www.poultryplast.com GI-OVO B.V. sales@gi-ovo.com www.gi-ovo.com Hendrix Genetics info@hendrix-genetics.com www.hendrix-genetics.com Hubbard contact.emea@hubbardbreeders.com www.hubbardbreeders.com Hy-Line International info@hyline.com www.hyline.com Impex Barneveld BV info@impex.nl www.impex.nl Intracare info@intracare.nl www.intracare.nl Jamesway USA-sales@jamesway.com www.jamesway.com Jansen Poultry Equipment info@jpe.org www.jpe.org Marel Poultry info.poultry@marel.com www.marel.com/poultry-processing Mbe Breeding Equipment info@mbefabriano.it www.mbefabriano.it Menci commerciale@menci.it www.menci.it Meyn sales@meyn.com www.meyn.com MOBA sales@moba.net www.moba.net MS Technologies sales@MSTegg.com www.MSTegg.com Newpharm info@newpharm.it www.newpharm.it Officine Meccaniche Vettorello luciano@officinevettorello.it www.officinevettorello.com Omaz srl omaz@omaz.com www.omaz.com Pas Reform info@pasreform.com www.pasreform.com Petersime N.V. info@petersime.com www.petersime.com Prinzen B.V. info@prinzen.com www.prinzen.com Reventa info@reventa.de www.reventa.de Roxell info@roxell.com www.roxell.com Ska ska@ska.it www.ska.it Socorex socorex@socorex.com www.socorex.com Space info@space.fr www.space.fr Specht Ten Elsen GmbH & Co. KG info@specht-tenelsen.de www.specht-tenelsen.de Tecnoclima tecnoclima@tecnoclimaspa.com www. tecnoclimaspa.com TPI-Polytechniek info@tpi-polytechniek.com www.tpi-polytechniek.com U.S. Poultry & Egg Association info@uspoultry.org www.uspoultry.org Val-co intl.sales@val-co.com www.val-co.com Valli info@valli-italy.com www.valli-italy.com VDL Agrotech info@vdlagrotech.nl www.vdlagrotech.com Vencomatic Group B.V. info@vencomaticgroup.com www.vencomaticgroup.com Victoria victoria@victoria-srl.com www.incubatricivictoria.com VIV Europe viv@vnuexhibitions.com www.viv.net Vostermans ventilation@vostermans.com www.vostermans.com

Editorial Director Lucio Vernillo Editorial Staff Daria Domenici, Tania Montelatici (zootecnica@zootecnica.it) Account Executive Marianna Caterino (amministrazione@zootecnica.it) Editorial Office Zootecnica International Via Ugo Foscolo 35 50018 Scandicci (FI) Italy Tel.: +39 055 2571891 Fax: +39 055 2571897 Website: www.zootecnicainternational.com Licence Registrazione Tribunale di Firenze n.3162 Spedizione in A.P. Art.2 comma 20/B legge 662/96 - Filiale di Firenze ISSN 0392-0593 Subscription Rates (1 year / 11 issues): Europe Euro 44 Rest of the World Euro 57 * Subscribe online by Credit Card or Paypal: www.zootecnicainternational.com * Subscribe by money transfer: 1. effect a money transfer to: Zootecnica International, via Ugo Foscolo, 35 50018 Scandicci (FI) Italy; bank: UNICREDIT, BIC: UNICRITM1OU9 Iban: IT 81 H 02008 38083 000020067507 2. send us your complete shipping address by fax (+39 055 2571897) or by email (amministrazione@zootecnica.it).

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English Edition Year XLII December 2020

Giordano Poultry Plast S.p.A. Via Bernezzo, 47 ,12023 CARAGLIO - Cuneo - Italy Tel. +39 0171 61.97.15 Fax +39 0171 81.75.81 info@poultryplast.com

SPECHT is everywhere where hens are!

• Rearing in aviary system

• Layers in Varia-System

• Rearing in cages

• Group cage system (enriched cage)

L

ORIGINA

estock eco and liv friendly

ORIGINAL

• Feeding system

®

• Layer battery

• Egg belt

• Cage floor

POULTRY EQUIPMENT

GmbH & Co. KG

• Manure drying system

Dassendaler Weg 13 • D-47665 Sonsbeck (Germany) Telefon +49 (0) 28 38 912-0 • Telefax +49 (0) 28 38 27 91 info@specht-tenelsen.de • www.specht-tenelsen.de

• Egg collecting system