Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Heat stress continues to negatively impact the poultry industry. Although we understand many aspects of heat stress on the health and performance of broiler chickens, we do not know how heat stress affects the shelf-life of the resulting poultry products. It is critical to determine how heat stress affects poultry meat's microbial quality and shelf-life so the industry can reduce food waste. Due to limitations and inconsistencies with current pre-harvest intervention strategies, the poultry and meat industries rely on processing aids and packaging preservation methods to extend the shelf-life of these products. Therefore, it is critical to determine if these preservation methods can reduce or eliminate the impact of heat stress on the downstream shelf-life of poultry. Our research will address heat stress's impact on the sustainability of poultry products throughout the poultry supply chain, from Farm-to-Fork. It will provide the industry with the necessary tools to build a more sustainable, adaptable, and resilient supply chain. We propose the following specific aims: 1) understand the impact of climate change and heat stress on the microbial quality and shelf-life of poultry meat; 2) reduce food waste by using targeted effective post-harvest intervention strategies to improve the microbial quality and shelf-life of poultry subjected to heat stress. The encompassed research is expected to enable stakeholders to map the microbiological shifts in response to heat stress. As a result, we will provide a framework to produce safe products with a longer retail shelf-life despite rising temperatures and increased occurrence of heat stress.
Animal Health Component
40%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
30%
Applied
40%
Developmental
30%
Goals / Objectives
Our long-term goal isto improve meat product reformulation and increase the shelf-life of products derived from heat-stressed (HS) poultry. Our overall objective in the present application is to determine the effect of HS on meat shelf life, which responds to very real research needs identified by industries and consumers, as well as directly address the A1231 program area priority focusing on "metabolic disorders and nutritional deficiencies affecting production of meat, milk, eggs, fish, and animal fiber" by understanding and ameliorating the effects of HS on poultry meat production and shelf-life.We propose the following specific aims:1-Understand the impact of climate change and heat stress on poultry meat's microbial ecology and shelf-life.2-Reduce food waste by using targeted, effective post-harvest intervention strategies to improve the microbial ecology and shelf-life of poultry subjected to constant HS.
Project Methods
Methodology:1) Impact HS has on orexin, leaky gut, and the microbiome of the liver, duodenum, ileum, ceca, and whole bird carcass rinses (WBCR).Bird Husbandry and diets will be in accordance with the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at the University of Arkansas.Cobb 500 chicks (male) will be reared in 12 environmentally controlled chambers (2 pens/chamber, 30 birds/pen). On d 29, thermoneutral control (CTL), cyclic HS (cyHS, 12h/day), and Pair-fed (PF) treatments will be applied. Growth performances (feed intake, body weight, FCR, mortality) will be recorded weekly andcore body temperatures will be continuously monitored. Orexin expression, gut permeability (FITC measurement), and the liver, duodenum, ileum, and ceca microbiome will be measured on d 28, 35, and 41. On d42, birds will be processed at the University of Arkansas Pilot Processing Plant (Fayetteville, AR) according to industry standards. Processing characteristics (live, carcass, and part weights) will be measured, and post-chill whole bird carcass rinses (WBCR) will be collected. Breast will be deboned, skinned, tray packaged, and transported (4°C) to the University of Wyoming (Laramie, WY) within 24h (N = 288). Performance and processing characteristics will be analyzed as a completely randomized design in R studio with main effects determined via ANOVA and a multiple comparison using Tukey's HSD (P<0.05). The microbiome of the liver, duodenum, ileum, ceca, and WBCR will be determined via sequencing the V4 region of the 16S rRNA genewith taxa relative abundances, core, diversity, and maturity of the microbiome (MAZ score) being explored in QIIME2. Microbiome diversity data will be correlated with continuous Orexin and gut permeability data in QIIME2.2) Elucidate consequences of HS on the microbial load and composition and shelf-life duration. Microbial load and composition of the tray-packaged chicken breasts will be determined on d1, 4, 7, 10, 14, and 21 post-harvest (n= 6). Microbial load and shelf-life will be determined by plating for spoilage indicators (mesophilic and psychrophilic aerobic plate count, Pseudomonas, lactic acid bacteria, Enterobacteriaceae). Microbiological plate data will be analyzed in R Studio using a mixed effect model (repeated measures) with pairwise differences determined using Tukey's HSD (P<0.05). The microbial ecology of breasts during the shelf-life experiment will be determinedand analyzed in QIIME2. Shelf-life will be further characterized by correlating microbiome diversity data with traditional spoilage microorganism plate data in QIIME2.3) Ascertain the effect of HS on meat quality. In line with microbiological and microbiome testing, breast and thigh meat quality will be determined via pH, objective color, moisture, crude fate, TBARS (lipid oxidation).Aim 2: Reducing food waste by using targeted post-harvest intervention strategies to improve the microbial ecology and shelf-life of poultry subjected to constant HS.1) Impact HS has on gut and initial carcass microbial ecology. Although this will be addressed in Aim 1, it is still necessary to verify that in this separate study, the birds experienced HS to the same degree as in the first experiment. As such, bird husbandry, performance and processing characteristics, ambient chamber and internal body temperature, heat-stress response (orexin), gut permeability, and microbiome of the liver, ileum, and ceca will be performed according to methods described in Aim 1 on d 28 and 42. On d 29, the thermoneutral (CTL) and cyclic HS (cHS) treatments will be applied. On d42, birds will be processed as described above. Post-evisceration, pre-chill WBCR will be collected to determine incoming carcass load and correlate with live bird HS (orexin), gut permeability, and microbiome. Data will be analyzed as a mixed effect model (repeated measures) with pairwise differences determined via Tukey's HSD (P<0.05). Microbiome data will be analyzed in QIIME2 as previously stated.2) Targeted approach on shelf-life and microbial ecology of pre-harvest HS chicken breasts. Carcasses will be pre-chilled at 12°C for 15 min and immersion-chilled for 1.5 h with manual agitation (15 min intervals) at 4°C. Carcasses will be immersed in a post-chill tank and manually agitated for 30 sec. Post-chill tanks (200 L) will contain tap water (TW) at 4°C or TW + 3% sodium bisulfate (SBS), an organic acid. Post-chill WBCR will be taken on a subset of carcasses (k = 4, n = 12, N = 48) and the remaining carcasses will be broken down with the breasts being deboned, skinned, and individually packaged in aerobic conditions, tray packaged (TP) or anaerobic conditions, vacuum packaged (VP) prior to transportation on ice to the University of Wyoming (Laramie, WY) within 24h (k = 8; n = 12, i = 6, N = 576). Microbial ecology and product quality will be determined on d1, 4, 7, 10, 14, and 21 post-harvest (i = 6). Microbiological plating of the mesophilic and psychrophilic aerobic plate count, Pseudomonas, lactic acid bacteria, and Enterobacteriaceae will occur in concurrence with microbiome sampling. The microbial ecology of WBCR and breasts during the shelf-life experiment will be determined as described in Aim 1, with taxa relative abundances, core, diversity, and maturity of the microbiome (MAZ score) being explored.3) Targeted approach on pre-harvest HS chicken breast meat quality. As in Aim 1, breast meat quality will be determined via objective color, moisture, crude fate, TBARS (lipid oxidation) on d1, 4, 7, 10, 14, and 21 post-harvest (i = 6).