Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Climate change is one of the great agricultural challenges of the 21st century. Within the poultry industry, laying hens are more likely to experience heat stress resulting from high environmental temperatures than other poultry species due to their longer life span. Despite heat stress being well studied in short-lived meat chickens, little research has been focused on laying hens and the pre-lay pullet stage. The pre-lay pullet stage sets a hen up for egg laying and researchers understand that events during the pullet stage impact the hen throughout her 90+ week egg lay period. The goal of this project is to investigate the consequences of heat stress during the pre-lay pullet phase on egg production to enhance the laying hen industry's ability to respond to climate change. To achieve our goal, we plan to produce extension materials focused on the impacts of heat stress on laying hens and pullets and on the people who care for those birds targeting a range of audiences from youth to the commercial poultry industry. Further we plan to conduct two research studies investigating the impacts of heat stress on pullets pre-lay and afterwards during their egg production period. Our extension and research efforts will result in informed mitigation strategies to reduce heat stress harm and restore egg production for producers.
Animal Health Component
85%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
15%
Applied
85%
Developmental
0%
Goals / Objectives
The long-term goal is to mitigate heat stress harm and egg production losses for laying hen producers. This unique proposal will be the first to assess the consequences of heat stress during pullet rearing on egg production in cage-free housing. We hypothesize that heat stressed pullets will have disrupted growth, reduced egg production and poorer quality eggs. Specific Objectives: 1) Developing resources on heat stress for extension audiences 2) Investigating heat stress as a physiological disruption during pullet growth 3) Evaluating the implications of pullet heat stress on egg production as laying hens.Further, the overarching aim of this fellowship is to establish myself as an emerging laying hen expert in alignment with the EWD Postdoctoral Fellowship priority. Working towards that aim, I will be developing three deficiencies in my training over the course of this grant period 1) research planning and grantsmanship, 2) extension experience, and 3) network development and career exploration.
Project Methods
Objective 1 will produce a set of resources that communicates the current understanding of how heat stress impacts pullets, laying hens and producers. Initially, a comprehensive review of extension resources and research concerning poultry heat stress will be conducted to identify gaps available for dissemination about pullets and laying hens. Following that a series of extension products will be disseminated exploring both bird and human impacts of heat stress.Objective 2 will investigate heat stress physiological disruption during pullet growth. Two ages of pullets (9 or 15 weeks) will be exposed to heat stress through 2 different heat stress conditions (Acute heat index of 82 or Constant heat index of 82 for 10 hours) for 2 lengths of time (2 or 7 days) with 1 additional group serving as a control that is maintained in thermoneutral conditions throughout the 17-week study. Performance metrics, welfare assessments and physiological measures will be taken prior to heat stress, at the midpoint of the heat stress, 24 hours after heat stress ends, 7 days after heat stress ends and 14 days after heat stress ends. Blood, bones, and small intestines will be collected from 8 euthanized pullets per treatment group (birds from the thermoneutral group will be sampled with those from the heat stress group each timepoint).Objective 3 will evaluate the implications of pullet heat stress on future egg production. Using the results of objective 2, two pullet heat stress conditions will be selected, one eliciting severe physiological disruption and one eliciting mild disruption. After heat stress ends pullets will return to thermoneutral conditions and brought into egg production through 45 weeks of age. Egg production and quality will be assessed in 28-day periods.