Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
There is an increasing interest of using plant polyphenols as antioxidants and antimicrobial in feed to combat the antibiotic resistance issue. Grape pomace (GP) is a by-product of grapes from wine making and is renewable and sufficient in grape juice and wine producing regions. It is rich in polyphenols and has potential to serve as an antibiotic alternative for livestock animals. However, previous studies show that the GP is often contaminated with toxigenic fungi and high level of OTA which could cause animal sickness and affect animal performance and production, particularly to pigs and poultry. Although studies of OTA detoxification methods have been reported, the research about the feasibility of those methods in real food/feed materials is limited. This project aims to develop an innovative and affordable detoxification approach by combining thermal pressure treatment and probiotic fermentation to make GP a safer feed ingredient, and to evaluate the detoxification efficacy and the impact of feeding detoxified GP on meat quality and the safety using a poultry model. The approach for detoxification will ensure all harmful microbes and spores are killed, and OTA in GP is degraded into non-toxic compounds not just adsorbed. If the detoxified GP is safe for poultry, it will also be safe for other farm animal species because poultry is more sensitive to OTA than most farm animals except swine. The GP detoxified by the approach of this project may serve as reservoir of antibiotic to improve the immunity of livestock animals if regularly consumed at right dose. This will reduce farmers' reliance on antibiotics and increase their profitability. The successful detoxification of OTA in GP will also enhance the value added use of GP which will benefit grape wineries and feed industry.
Animal Health Component
40%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
40%
Applied
60%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The overall goal of this project is to develop an innovative an affordable detoxification method for grape pomace (GP) by combining thermal pressure treatment and probiotic fermentation to make GP a safer feed ingredient, and to evaluate the detoxification efficacy using a poultry model. The specific objectives of the project are(1) develop GP detoxification method and optimize the detoxification condition,(2) evaluate the effects of feeding detoxified GP on the growth performance and immune-competence of broiler chickens, and (3) evaluate the effects of feeding detoxified GP on the quality chicken meat.
Project Methods
Based on the information obtained from up to date literature, the hypothesis of the project is that the combination of thermal-pressure treatment and fermentation with probiotic bacteria will detoxify OTA-contaminated GP, the poultry diet supplemented with detoxified GP will improve the immune-competence of broiler chickens, the chicken meat and organs of chicken fed with diet containing GP will have significantly lower OTA residue than those from chicken fed with diet containing non-detoxified GP. This hypothesis will be tested by three specific objectives.Objective 1 Develop a detoxification method and optimize the detoxification condition: The fresh GP will be collected from a local winery, which will be treated at high temperature and high pressure for different time to sterilize and to thermal degrade OTA. The LAB and Bifidobacterium strains which can produce OTA degrading enzymes and are resist to high acidity (low pH) will be used to ferment the sterile GP. The efficacy of OTA reduction by the approach will be evaluated by quantifying OTA residual in treated GP in comparison that in untreated GP. The OTA and its degradation product OTα in the treated and untreated GP will be extracted and analyzed by the HPLC-FLD method.Objective 2 Evaluate the effects of feeding detoxified GP on the growth performance and immune-competence of broiler chickens: The detoxification efficiency will be tested by feeding broiler chickens with a diet containing 5% of detoxified GP and monitoring chicken's performance, oxidative status, immune function, liver and kidney functions, and OTA accumulation in selected organs in comparison to those fed undetoxified GP, and controls. Negative control will consist of chicks given a conventional unmedicated corn-soybean meal basal diet, while positive control will consist of chicks given a basal diet with 0.25 g/kg ethoxyquin. Changes induced by GP in cecal microbiome functional composition will also be determined. Experimental birds will be necropsied for the collection of the liver and kidney for the determination of the OTA concentration.Objective 3 Evaluate the effects of diet containing detoxified and undetoxified GPs on the quality and safety of chicken meat: Breast and thigh muscles will also be collected at the end of feeding experiment for the meat quality analysis. The main quality parameters such as appearance, texture, juiciness, proximate composition (moisture, fat, protein and ash), cook loss, and the oxidative stability of muscle meat from chickens fed with detoxified and undetoxified GPs will be measured. The residue OTA in chicken meat samples will be extracted using an enzyme-assisted extraction procedure and quantified by a HPLC-FLD method and compared using post-hoc Tukey test at 5% significance level.