Progress 09/01/17 to 04/30/19
Outputs
Target Audience:We designed the NutraMaize USDA SBIR Phase I Grant, High Carotenoid Orange Corn for Poultry Health to target and aid the poultry (chicken) health industry, particularly egg producers and those who grow poultry for human consumption. Chickens and eggs are fundamental protein staples of the American diet. Today, chicken is the number one protein source in America, with a per capita availability of over 90 pounds per person (Per Capita Consumption of Poultry and Livestock, 2016). The US egg industry produces over 7 billion table eggs a month, resulting in a per capita availability of 265 eggs per person per year (Industry Overview, 2016). While great advances in breeding and chicken production have occurred over the past 50 years, consumer preferences and government regulations are forcing the broiler and egg industries to transition away from some of the standard practices that have helped them reach such high levels of efficiency (advances led to an increase in broiler growth of over 400% (live weight at slaughter) and reduced the amount of feed required to produce a pound of meat by 50%; and advances in breeding, nutrition and production techniques enabled the US egg industry to produce 27% more eggs with 42% less feed per hen (Bunge, 2016)). With a feed conversion ratio for poultry that is significantly lower (better) than that of beef (~3x) and pork (~1.5x) and a production period that is significantly shorter, poultry production is an attractive way to meet the protein needs of growing populations that have finite agricultural resources (Bunge, 2016). Most notably among these changing buyer and consumer pressures are those forcing the egg industry to move towards cage-free production, and the Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD), which significantly hindered the use of antibiotics in meat production. This is causing significant concern within the egg industry because cage-free systems are more difficult to manage and require increased labor (Chaussee, 2016). The adoption of cages for egg production not only vastly increased egg production efficiency, it also largely eliminated the transmission of disease through fecal matter. However, with the movement towards cage-free production on bedding, laying hens will once again be exposed to immune pressures faced by litter raised broilers. Since the approval of antibiotics by the USDA to be used as a growth promoter in 1951, they have been in wide use in poultry feed to increase weight gain, but have also significantly limited the immune pressure on broilers from common bacterial infection such as necrotic enteritis (Castanon, 2007).It has also been suggested that low doses of antibiotics have an anti-inflammatory effect, which promotes overall health and reduces wasted energy (Niewold, 2007). The VFD eliminated the use of antibiotics as a growth promoter and significantly restrict the use of medically important antibiotics to prevent or treat disease, since all antibiotic now require a prescription from a veterinarian (Fact Sheet, 2015).One of the primary consequences of the movement towards cage-free production and the implementation of the VFD in 2017 is that significantly more pressure is being put on the immune system of both broilers and laying hens, which can lead to an increased incidence and severity of disease, thus negatively impacting production performance (Karavolias et al., 2018).Therefore, broiler and egg producers are being forced to seek novel solutions that will promote the health of their birds while maintaining optimal efficiency and profitability. Compounding the urgency of addressing these challenges is the rapidly growing and changing demand for poultry products. To meet the demand of the 120 plus major food producers and grocery chains that pledged to go cage-free, U.S. egg producers will need to increase the country's cage-free flock by more than 900% by 2030 (Graber, 2016). In fact, the U.N Food and Agriculture Organization projected that by 2020, chicken would surpass pork as the most widely produced meat globally (United Nations, 2016). However, this projection did not account for African Swine Fever (ASF), which is spreading rapidly in pig herds across China. This positions poultry to become the world's most consumed meat protein,this year,in 2019 (Poultry is King of Proteins in IPC Outlook, 2019)."Hog losses in China due to ASF will trigger big shocks in global protein markets," Christine McCracken, senior protein analyst at Rabobank, told International Poultry Council members, "and poultry is the meat protein with the most to win." Through our Phase I SBIR research, NutraMaize investigated the inclusion of high carotenoid Orange Corn in the diet of poultry as a feasible solution to help address these problems by improving overall poultry health. This research also investigated the ability of Orange Corn to provide an added benefit to producers by enhancing the pigmentation of egg yolks without the use of a feed additive. References: Bunge, Jacob. "How to Satisfy the World's Surging Appetite for Meat."Wsj.com. Wall Street Journal, 04 Dec. 2015. Web. 4 Sept. 2016. Chaussee, Jennifer. "The Insanely Complicated Logistics of Cage-Free Eggs for All."Wired.com. Conde Nast Digital, 25 Jan. 2016. Web. 05 Oct. 2016. Castanon, J. I. R. "History of the Use of Antibiotic as Growth Promoters in European Poultry Feeds."Poultry Science86.11 (2007): 2466-471. Web. "Fact Sheet: Veterinary Feed Directive Final Rule and Next Steps."Fda.gov. Food and Drug Administration, 17 Dec. 2016. Web. 05 Oct. 2016. Graber, Roy. "INFOGRAPHIC: 103 Food Industry Brands to Pledge Cage Free in 2016."Wattagnet.com. WATTAgNet, 27 Apr. 2016. Web. 01 Oct. 2016. "Industry Overview."Aeb.com. American Egg Board, 7 Sept. 16. Web. 20 Sept. 2016. Karavolias, Joanna. Matthew Jude Salois, Kristi T Baker, Kevin Watkins. "Raised without antibiotics: impact on animal welfare and implications for food policy."Translational Animal Science,Volume 2, Issue 4, October 2018, Pages 337-348, https://doi.org/10.1093/tas/txy016 Niewold, T. A. "The Nonantibiotic Anti-Inflammatory Effect of Antimicrobial Growth Promoters, the Real Mode of Action? A Hypothesis."Poultry Science86.4 (2007): 605-09. Web. "Per Capita Consumption of Poultry and Livestock, 1965 to Estimated 2016, in Pounds."Nationalchickencouncil.com. The National Chicken Council, 21 Sept. 2016. Web. 25 Sept. 2016. "Poultry is King of Proteins in IPC Outlook." 2019, International Poultry Council (IPC). 30 July 2019. Web March 2019. United Nations. Food and Agriculture Organization.GIEWS-Food Outlook. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Sept. 2016.? Changes/Problems:As shared above, we did broaden our research to examine the microbiome effect of Orange Corn on poultry gut health. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?To date, we shared our results with communities of interest through poster presentations at our collaborating University (Purdue) and at agricultural-aligned entrepreneurship competitions and events. We intend to publish our results in the near future in both academic and industry focused poultry journals (Poultry and Journal of Poultry Science, as examples). From our presentations at agricultural entrepreneurship events we have garnered the attention and interest in collaboration from commercial egg producers. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1.Yolk Pigmentation Efficacy Testing:Demonstrate that Orange Corn is an effective method for coloring egg yolks For Objective 1, we fed 360NOVOgen White laying hens diets that were the same composition, but differed in the type of corn included, with the different corns being white, yellow, or Orange Corn over a span of 35 days. We collected the eggs they laid to determine if the type of corn found in the diet had any effect on egg yolk color. We gathered eggs daily from all cages within the enriched colony cage system. We used a DSM YolkFan to score the egg yolk color. We scored each individual yolk and then made 4 pools (6-eggs each) per treatment and we took 3 measurements per bag with the colorimeter. We found that egg yolks from hens fed a white corn diet scored as an exceptionally light yellow on the DSM YolkFan, ranging from a 1-3. Egg yolks from hens fed a yellow corn diet scored as a medium yellow on the DSM YolkFan, ranging from a 4-7, with most scoring as a 5-6. Egg yolks from hens fed an Orange Corn diet scored as a darker yellow/orange on the DSM YolkFan, ranging from 8-11, with most scoring 9-10. In a follow-on study where we examined diets that differed for laying hens in 100% Orange Corn vs. 100% yellow corn supplemented with OroGlo (an industry standard feed additive used to increase yolk pigmentation), we found that yolk pigment scores were darker with 100% Orange Corn, compared to 100% yellow corn + OroGlo (manufacture recommended amount to achieve high (>9) DSM color fan scores). Yolk pigmentation followed a similar saturation timeline and levels as scored by the DSM Yolkfan, found in our original study. Our HPLC data shows that egg yolks from laying hens fed 100% Orange Corn had higher levels of 5 types of carotenoids (lutein, zeaxanthin, alpha-crytpoxanthin, beta-cryptoxanthin, and overall xanthophylls) as compared to the eggs from the laying hens fed 100% yellow corn + the manufacture recommended amount of OroGlo to achieve high (>9) DSM color fan scores. Overall, orange and yellow corn diets resulted in a visible yolk pigment change compared to white corn, with Orange Corn being an effective method for achieving darker yolk pigmentation. Objective 2.Coccidiosis Testing:Demonstrate that Orange Corn reduces the severity of coccidiosis in birds inoculated with coccidia using a live vaccine. For Objective 2, we fed 300 broiler chickens diets that were the same, but differed in the type of corn included, with the difference being white, yellow, or Orange Corn over a span of 22 days. On day 15 of the trial we challenged the non-control birds with a live coccidiosis vaccine to see if the difference in diets had any effect on their ability to withstand the coccidiosis challenge. The trial ended on day 22, and we sacrificed 20% of the birds for each treatment (N = 10/diet x cocci trt; 60 birds total) to score intestines for cocci lesions and collect fresh cecal samples. We found no difference between diets on cocci lesion scoring (P >0.5), and no effect of diet on oocyst count (P>0.6) suggesting that we could not detect if Orange Corn reduces the severity of coccidiosis with this experiment. With inconclusive results on the effect of Orange Corn on reducing the severity of coccidiosis, we examined the effect on poultry gut health through a microbiome analysis. We found that the type of corn used in the chicken diets appears to alter the microbial community composition of the cecum, collected in both hen and broiler studies. However, the influence of the corn in the diet seems to be a subtle pressure on the microbiome that requires many replicates to be able to identify these microbiome shifts. It seems that 3 treatment replicates is wholly inadequate to be able to discern microbiome shifts due to the corn in the diet. It appears that 15-20 replicates are required be able to discern shifts in the microbiome due to corn type in diet. As for the shifts in the bacterial communities, in hens the shift with Orange Corn was a decrease in Lactobacillus and an increaseBacteroidetesoverall. In broilers,Faecalibacteriumseems more sensitive to the source of corn in the diet even though in one trial Orange Corn decreasedFaecalibacteriumand in the other trial it increased. Given the variability in the results between treatments shown in this preliminary ad hoc investigation, future studies will be designed to ensure there is enough statistical power to detect potential shifts in microbiota. Objective 3.Footpad Dermatitis Testing:Demonstrate that Orange Corn lowers the rate and severity of footpad dermatitis Objective 4.Broiler Skin Pigmentation Efficacy Testing:Demonstrate that Orange Corn is an effective method for coloring the skins of broiler skin For Objectives 3 and 4, we fed 960 broiler chickens diets that were the same, but differed in the type of corn included, with the difference being white, yellow, or Orange Corn over a span of 42 days. 480 of the birds were in a controlled environment, where the other half of the birds were in a 'wet' environment to promote footpad dermatitis. The trial ended on day 42, and we sacrificed 20% of the birds for each treatment (N = 8 birds/pen; 192 total birds). We processed the birds, performing Shank Color Scoring using a DSM Color Fan on whole legs, shanks, and breast (skin). We collected breast skin, ceca, feathers, livers, fat pads, and foot pad to measure them with a colorimeter and HPLC. Compared to yellow and white corn, Orange Corn had: Reduced footpad scores significantly at 35 and 42 days of age Increased yellow pigmentation of the paw, shank, fat pad, and liver Increased average body weight throughout the study (0.11-0.18 kg difference at market age) Overall we were able to show that our hypotheses for Objectives 3 and 4 were correct.
Publications
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