Recipient Organization
NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIV
(N/A)
RALEIGH,NC 27695
Performing Department
Poultry Science
Non Technical Summary
Past and ongoing research from this multi-state organization in terms of providing a collaborative approach to enhance poultry research in the area of nutrition, environmental control,housing systems, lighting, automation and robotics, food safety and security, health and bird welfare. Moreover, thelaying hen industry-wide commodity group has identified the need for the development of enhanced technology to address management techniques to improve laying hen performance, behavior, and well-being in alternative housing systems (cage-free aviaries). Furthermore, industry organizations such as the United Egg Producers and the Egg Industry Center also supports collaborative research and outreach activities to find appropriate solutions to the questions faced by the poultry and egg industry.Due to an increasing global population, there is a need for sustainably, efficiently, and safely produced and processed protein, such as poultry. Adapting Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) techniques to poultry production and processing systems will further enhance the industry's capability to meet the growing demand. Consumer and retail demands of the poultry industry have resulted in an expansion in a variety of production and feeding systems with differing constraints and knowledge base. The collaborative research efforts outlined here will further expand the concept of PLF, using automated continuous monitoring of animals to allow producers to record and assess in real-time, the health and welfare status of their animals. The approach includes the use of automation and robotics, equipment efficiency, facility design, energy, and resource allocation. In addition, improvements in antimicrobial intervention technologies and processing methods will mitigate the risk of foodborne pathogens in poultry and poultry products.Poultry production systems must be optimized to be more energy/resource efficient, minimize their carbon footprint and sustainable through infrastructure development throughout the blockchain of production, that is, breeder, hatchery, producer, processor, and consumer. Collaborative research can help tie together the different components of the system and their relationships. The consequences of not renewing the project will result in the loss of the poultry industry's position in the global marketplace and the ability to provide safe and nutritious poultry products to consumers throughout the world.
Animal Health Component
75%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
75%
Developmental
25%
Goals / Objectives
Integrating technological advances into poultry systems. This will include collaborative research on incorporating engineering and technology to enhance system efficiency and sustainability through infrastructure development of blockchain production.
Establishing and adopting husbandry practices to a changing industry landscape. This collaborative research will encompass a multi-disciplinary approach to create a resilient poultry production system through optimal management of inputs and outputs in an ethically responsible manner.
Project Methods
Nutrition Strategies and Feed Manufacture:Understanding the way in which chickens partition their nutrient intake in different production systems is mostly unknown. Therefore, research is needed on the breadth of poultry feeding programs by examining feed form, dietary ingredients, feed additives, and individual nutrients and how these influence not only the bird performance but also other elements of the production system such as well-being, environment, health, and food safety. This research will create replicated data to investigate the relationship between physical activity and production uses of nutrients in the current egg and meat-type bird genotypes and bird performance and health. Additionally, identification of bird strain and feed form effects on bird performance and nutrient utilization will be determined.Litter Restriction in Cage-Free Aviaries. An increasing number of producers in the U.S. laying hen industry is transitioning from conventional cages to cage-free housing systems, in response to customer and legislative demands for eggs from welfare-friendly production systems. Cage-free systems come in many forms; however, a common style is the aviary, which consists of elevated (sometimes enclosed) tiers, nests, and perches, and provides access to a litter-covered floor area in which hens can perform behaviors such as foraging and dust bathing (Campbell et al., 2016; Odén et al., 2002). A major concern specific to cage-free housing systems is the undesirable consequence of eggs laid in the litter areas, which results in lower quality eggs, more labor required to collect eggs, and prolonged contact time between hens and eggs that lead to more damaged eggs. Initial exclusion from litter helps train birds to use nests as they develop egg laying routines, minimizing floor-laid and damaged eggs later when hens are given litter access (Alm et al., 2014). Partial litter restriction is permitted by several industry guidelines in the U.S., including those of the United Egg Producers (UEP, 2016).Keel-bone Fractures in Cage-Free Birds. Keel bone fractures have been identified as a serious welfare concern due to their high reported prevalence and association with pain (Nasr et al. 2012a; Nasr et al. 2013a; Nasr et al. 2015) and reduced egg production efficiency and quality (Nasr et al. 2012b; Nasr et al. 2013b). With only a handful of U.S.-based research teams working to understand and mitigate risk factors associated with the development of keel bone fractures, minimal information currently exists on the extent of the issue in U.S. cage-free systems. However, over the next 7 years, the U.S. egg industry is projected to move away from its reliance on conventional cage housing (associated with a relatively low keel bone fracture incidence rate) toward cage-free housing (associated with keel bone fracture rates of up to 90% by 60 to 70 weeks hen age). Understanding the causes of keel bone damage and management strategies that may mitigate keel bone fracture risk will assist US producers with successfully implementing cage-free systems in their operations while reducing keel bone fracture risk.Housing Systems. At the moment, the modern laying hen industry is exploring alternative types of hen raising systems, cage-free that includes both aviary and floor pen. With the demand of changing the egg industry to cage-free by 2025, as well as interest from consumers, hens have begun to be provided more space in addition to access to outdoors (Mench et al., 2011). However, there needs to be a more substantial amount of research data that includes production, feed conversion and health of hens that will allow making a broader comparison between hen housing types before the world embraces cage-free as its best option (Anderson, 2018). Egg parameters (i.e., egg mass) and hen parameters (i.e., mortality and hen weight) have been found to vary between the three types of housing: floor pen, traditional, and enriched cage, providing conflicting results (Hidalgo et al., 2008; Singh et al., 2009; Sherwin et al., 2010). Along with the production, bone health and bone biology are the two significant concerns to the poultry industry. Bone weakness is an important issue for the egg layer industry, as it directly relates to hen pain and affects the egg production (Webster, 2004).Aspects of production systems interact with the physiology of the bird and subsequent performance and well-being. Feather pecking (FP) and cannibalism occur in all the current egg production systems, including cage and free range, which is an important cause of mortality in untrimmed chickens. Beak trimming (BT) is a common practice to prevent FP and cannibalism. Light spectrum appears to have an impact on FP and Cannibalism. Research needs to be conducted to develop a bird-friendly method for preventing FP and cannibalism, eliminating BT. Another area of concern in laying hen production systems are bone fractures, and the effect of pullet rearing on skeletal quality during egg laying has not been extensively studied. Additionally, perch use/design has not been extensively studied for its impact on bone mineralization during rearing.Role of Space on Behavior.In a production setting, hen housing guidelines and codes of practice frequently include recommendations on the amount of space or resource allocation per hen with the intent of allowing expression of behavioral needs such as standing, lying, perching, wing flapping, and dust bathing. If hens cannot perform these behaviors, possible results are frustration, injury, or deprivation (Vestergaard et al., 1997). For example, hens will work to gain perch access, particularly at night (Olsson and Keeling, 2000), and if sufficient perch space is provided for each hen, hens may spend 100% of their night perching (Appleby et al., 1993; Olsson and Keeling, 2000). Dust bathing is also well documented as having a positive benefit for hens. This "high priority behavior" (EFSA, 2015) is a maintenance behavior that can improve feather condition and dislodge skin parasites (Weeks and Nicol, 2006). Dust bathing is regarded as a comfort behavior, and situations that do not allow hens to dust bathe may cause stress (Vestergaard et al., 1997; Weeks and Nicol, 2006).However, relatively little research has directly examined the amount of space required for laying hens to perform these key behaviors (Dawkins and Hardie, 1989; Mench and Blatchford, 2014; Spindler et al., 2016) or postures, such as standing and lying, in which hens spend much of their day (Keeling, 1994; Channing et al., 2001). Recently, we developed a unique approach to determine the physical space required by hens to perform key behaviors in commercial style aviaries and reported differences in space requirements between four different strains to perform certain behaviors (Riddle et al., 2018). We found that popular commercial hen strains such as Hy-Line W36, Bovan Brown, Hy-Line Brown, and DeKalb White required more physical space to perform key behaviors such as standing, lying, dust bathing, wing flapping and perching than proposed by housing guidelines and codes of practice or reported by previous research (Dawkins and Hardie, 1989; Mench and Blatchford, 2014; UEP, 2017; Spindler et al., 2016). For instance, United Egg Producer (UEP) standards recommend 15 cm perch space per bird and that 50% of the flock be able to perch simultaneously on elevated perching structures (UEP, 2016). In our study, hens occupied more than 15 cm of perch width, with the narrowest of the strains (DeKalb White) we assessed occupying an average of 18 cm.